Safety

Member of rescue team stands atop snowing mountain holding a smoking flare indicating landing zone

Our Priority. Our Promise.

Safety is a foundational value at Life Flight Network. Investment in our safety culture is a continual effort, exploring the smartest systems within the air medical community and mining the best practices of other industries to be the gold standard. To exemplify our commitment to safety, we maintain the industry’s pre-eminent national and international safety and operations accreditations, including being the first air medical company to be dually accredited for safety by the Helicopter Association International (HAI) and International Standards of Business Aviation Operations (IS-BAO).

Safety has a bearing on every decision we make. As a proactive and thoroughly integrated effort, we ensure that each department, customer, and contracted vendor is devoted to and supports our steadfast commitment to this cause because the safety of our patients, healthcare partners, and employees is what matters most.

Our crews are actively engaged in a robust safety reporting culture and considered part of the safety system itself. Safety works when people talk. We employ proven systems like A Just Culture, Flight Operations Quality Assurance (FOQA), Operational Control Center flight monitoring, and advanced training practices. All initiatives are vetted through the Safety and Risk Management department prior to implementation and are continuously evaluated to ensure the highest degree of safety is provided to our patients, employees, and the public. At Life Flight Network, safety really is FIRST!

Aviation

At the heart of our safety strategy is a collaborative and data-driven approach that manages risk across the entire operation. To maintain the highest levels of safe aviation, we use recurrent aircraft-specific training modules aimed at improving pilots’ skills. These include annual in-aircraft training, using Life Flight Network’s Frasca flight training device, active monitoring of flight data, and integration and representation with our quality management program.

Fleet Monitoring and Fleet Operations Quality Assurance

Life Flight Network’s Operational Control Center maintains oversight of every transport, monitoring the aircraft and weather for the duration of the flight. Our dedicated fleet monitoring ensures an additional set of eyes on factors that can affect safety, providing critical support to our pilots and crews while they care for patients.

In addition to in-flight safety monitoring, our Flight Operations Quality Assurance (FOQA) program enhances safety by reviewing post-transport data and identifying events that fall outside allowable margins. The FOQA manager collects, tracks, and trends data—all leading to improvements in training and procedures.

Safety Technologies

Life Flight Network’s aircraft are equipped with a variety of safety technologies, such as night vision goggles (NVGs), aircraft-specific auto-pilot systems, satellite weather and tracking systems, GPS, and Helicopter Terrain Awareness and Warning Systems (HTAWS). Our fleet is specifically designed to meet the operational needs of 24-hour service across the vast geographic footprint of the Pacific Northwest and Intermountain West.

Risk Analysis & Mitigation

We know risk exists in everything we do. Our job is to preemptively identify and mitigate risk wherever possible. This represents a relentless pursuit of quality from the Safety and Risk Management Department through actively tracking and trending hundreds of data points to help define the safest operational margins.

Crew Resource Management

Crew Resource Management (CRM) is a comprehensive system for improving crew performance. It involves a concentration on crew member attitudes and behaviors and their impact on safety.

CRM training encompasses a wide range of knowledge, skills, and attitudes for improving communications, situational awareness, problem-solving, decision-making, and teamwork.

All flight crew members, ground crew personnel, and communication specialists attend CRM during new employee orientation as well as yearly recurrent training.

A Just Culture of Safety

A Just Culture philosophy is an innovative framework for continuous learning and improvement. Embraced by all levels of our organization, this philosophy allows our employees to openly share errors so we may learn and improve, leading to the design and implementation of training protocols and operational procedures that protect everyone.

Our Four Pillars

Policy

We are committed to continually improving safety through:

Risk Assessment

A formal process, and steady practices in:

Safety Assurance

Effectiveness of implemented risk control strategies for:

Promotion

Promote a positive safety culture through:
Associations, Accreditations, and Awards
Striving for excellence in everything we do.
NAAMTA Accreditation Logo
IS-BAO Accreditation Logo
Helicopter Association International accreditation logo
CAMTS accreditation logo

An Enduring Commitment to
Organizational Excellence

Quality Management

Our quality management team ensures departments throughout Life Flight Network have the necessary tools to measure and report organizational improvements and successes and to establish, comply with, and ultimately exceed industry standards.

Communications Center

Our state-of the-art Communications Center is located at Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center in Boise, Idaho. Trained communications specialists process more than 100,000 phone calls each month from EMS, hospital, and public safety dispatch centers.

Aircraft Maintenance

Our maintenance team is recognized nationally for its standards of quality and safety. Our factory-trained technicians provide expertise around the clock, supporting a fleet of rotor-wing and fixed-wing aircraft throughout our four-state service area.

Air Medical Transport

We’ve built our reputation on our rotor- and fixed-wing ICU-level air medical services for communities in the Pacific Northwest and Intermountain West. While we’re proud of that legacy, our commitment to excellence requires continuous advancements, the most sophisticated equipment, and the most experienced flight and care teams.

Emergency
Dispatch

EMS and Hospital Personnel:
For immediate emergency dispatch, call us 24/7. We’re standing by.

(800) 232-0911

There.
When You Need Us.
Life Flight Network