HeliOffshore appoints COO

Offshore helicopter safety group HeliOffshore has appointed its operations director François Lassale to the role of chief operating officer. In his new role, Mr Lassale is responsible for maintaining operations and supporting member companies and programmes.

HeliOffshore, which was formed in October 2014,  is a safety-focused helicopter consortium comprising directors and c-level executives from some of the largest offshore helicopter operators and regulators. They include William Chiles, former CEO of Bristow Group, David Plester the managing directorof Babcock and Christopher Bradshaw, president and CEO, Era Group.

Gretchen Haskins, HeliOffshore CEO said in a statement: “HeliOffshore’s unprecedented collaboration for safety has expanded greatly and the time is right for us to adjust our management structure to ensure that we are well placed to achieve our full potential.”

Mr Lassale will be the first HeliOffshore COO, joining William E. Chiles and Group CEO Gretchen Haskins as HeliOffshore-exclusive members of the board.

Before joining the group in 2015, Mr Lassale was the managing director of Vortexfsm – a helicopter services company. Mr Lassle started his career in the UK’s Royal Air Force and gained extensive experience in safety management for rotary and fixed-wing operations.

Mr Lassale closed off the news release saying: “Working with HeliOffshore members to develop and implement life-saving programmes is extremely satisfying because I know that the outcomes we are achieving will support our industry’s overall goal of bringing workers home safely every day.”