Health & Safety

We seek to eliminate hazards and minimize their risks through pre-job meetings, risk assessments conducted prior to operations, proper PPE, use of barriers, no-go zones and hands-free tools.

Hazard Hunts – Prior to the start of a project, our crews assess and mitigate known risks (also known as “Hazard Hunts”) in an effort to identify potential safety risks that may occur during the project. This involves physical inspections of defined areas by crew members. Identified issues are reviewed and addressed by site leadership with an action plan for improvement based on a Hazard Hunt Inspection Form.

Our internal observation reporting system that can be utilized to report hazards or for positive reporting. Some examples of this include positive behavior observations of fellow employees, improvement suggestions within the workplace and interventions made by an employee to avert at-risk behaviors and/or working conditions.

On our Helix legacy vessels in the US we have implemented a Behavioral Safety Incentive Program to encourage and celebrate employees who actively contribute to our safety culture.

Safety behaviors are evaluated each week to award one employee on each vessel a prize. From those winners, a monthly winner is chosen, and from those winners a quarterly winner is chosen.

Each of our vessels maintains an evergreen Safety Gram notebook. Safety Grams share lessons learned from incidents both within Helix and our industry as a whole.

Safety Grams are used in training and safety meetings and are kept on our Company intranet for reference and search purposes.

We regularly assess the security risks of the locations of our people and assets and obtain expert advice, as necessary, to support our project teams during the project preparation phase and throughout project completion. Based on such assessments, we engage third parties to assist with security in those regions we’ve identified as high risk.

This includes detailed journey management plans for our employees, updated security information for our vessels and vessel hardening when required. In the event of a security incident, we have detailed repatriation plans in place for our people to return home safely to their families.

We engage International SOS, a global health and security risk management firm, to assist us with our security plans and provide regular updates of risks globally.

Helix vessels and worksites hold HSE meetings regularly. These meetings are available to all personnel including non-employees.

At these meetings, all parties are able to provide feedback to enhance safety protocols

Additionally, we employ Pre-Shift Meetings on certain vessels for employees who are shift changing to review any noteworthy items with the employee from the prior shift and the upcoming daily activities. Personnel also participate in “Toolbox Talks” wherein prior to work, employees discuss the work procedure, assess risks, and agree on proper controls, protocols and equipment to accomplish the work.

Active participation by employees in HSE Meetings, Pre-Shift Meetings and Toolbox Talks are encouraged to bring any matters to the attention of appropriate leadership. Minutes from meetings are available on the vessel as well as provided to onshore management.

All Helix employees, contractors and third parties have the absolute right, obligation and authority to stop any task, operation or interaction where unsafe behavior or conditions exist and could pose a danger to any person, property or the work itself. We endeavor to create a culture that requires, empowers and supports all personnel to exercise Stop Work Authority (also known as an “All Stop”) when a threat exists.

Training on Stop Work Authority is provided to all personnel. Additionally, we regularly review Stop Work Authority as part of all field location safety briefings and safety meetings.

Helix in conjunction with Helix Alliance maintains a variety of policies within the Helix Alliance Group Management System aimed at mitigating the risk of driving related incidents, injuries, and fatalities. This includes a Motor Vehicle Operations Standard, a Journey Management Standard and a Fatigue Management Standard. These three documents function together to outline the expectations of an employee when operating motor vehicle.

In 2024, Helix had 0 motor vehicle accidents.

Helix requires third parties accessing our vessels to implement and follow our safety protocols while onboard. Prior to mobilizing to a vessel, a two-way exchange of information is initiated to educate third parties regarding applicable safety policies aboard the vessel. In this exchange of information, all personnel joining a vessel are subject to a vessel familiarization process to communicate policies and safety rules, the vessel layout, emergency equipment and emergency procedures. The third-party likewise provides us information related to its personnel boarding the vessel, including all medically necessary information.

We require our contractors and subcontractors working on Helix vessels to have the same safety industry training certifications as employees and require them to follow our internal safety protocols.

Helix maintains a list of qualified suppliers for each business unit to identify service providers that are permitted to work on our vessels.

For more information on our Suppliers and Vendors, visit our Supply Chain Section in Leadership & Governance.

In the event of an incident, the local Site Manager or Captain may initiate an investigation in conjunction with QHSE as defined by the business unit’s safety management system and procedures.

The focus of the investigation is on the prevention of recurrence of a like-for-like incident and communication-positive learning with employees. Our investigations focus on “why” and “what went wrong” not “who did wrong.” This focuses the attention on the facts of the incident and how we can prevent it from happening again. The investigation may include a focus on behaviors that may have led to the incident and any triggers that led to the behavior.

The investigation seeks to identify corrective actions to prevent recurrence which should include what is to be done, when and by whom. Each business unit has established a process for tracking and closing out any corrective actions.

The Helix Crisis Assistance Team (HCAT), a team comprised of members of the Executive and business unit management, QHSE, Legal, Risk, Human Resources, and Information Technology, is available to respond to any emergency should it arise.

We hold regular training on our response protocols wherein we simulate emergency or catastrophic scenarios. These drills mirror potential real-life scenarios to provide effective and efficient responses in order to minimize harm to people, the environment, assets and client operations.

HCAT supports our operational emergency response teams to assist with the effective management of communication and interaction between Helix and our key audiences, including employees, their families, customers, third parties, regulatory agencies, media, investors and the community in general.