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!
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.
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.
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 formal process, and steady practices in:
Effectiveness of implemented risk control strategies for:
EMS and Hospital Personnel:
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