Drone services provider Delta Drone International – through its Rocketmine South Africa and Rocketmine Australia subsidiary operations – has announced that it has achieved the Basic Aviation Risk Standard (BARS), an internationally recognised safety audit programme that puts the company among the gold standard of aviation services providers for resource companies worldwide.

Run by the Flight Safety Foundation, BARS uses an ISO 9001-certified process to test an aviation services provider’s flight and operational aspects – including flight operations, maintenance handling, personnel, aircraft and quality and safety systems.

These tests now cover unmanned aviation, which is why Delta Drone was so keen to acquire the greenlight for this industrial aviation standard, which also includes Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) drone data capture activities.

“In the past, resource companies each had their own aviation safety standard and would engage aviation service providers to transport staff to work sites at their own expense,” Delta Drone International said in a statement.

“There was no single industry aviation standard to manage their aviation risk. The variety of standards meant that aircraft operators underwent multiple annual audits creating unnecessary burden. There was no formal process by which safety audit results, accident data or safety findings could be shared between the companies or across the resource industry.

“In 2010, resource industry giants BHP and Rio Tinto came together and approached the Flight Safety Foundation (FSFL) as an independent, impartial not-for profit organisation to collaborate in establishing a global aviation safety assessment and audit protocol (The BAR Standard).”

The company added that its BARS registration was the culmination of the design and implementation of recognised procedures, processes and controls in aviation within the organisation.

“We are now hitting the peak of our offering,” said Delta Drone International CEO Christophe Clark.

“Our safety management systems, which have been developed and matured over a decade, have now been tested against one of the highest aviation standards in the world. This registration is highly regarded when bidding for new contracts as well when renewing existing customer contracts.

“This achievement is more than just a certificate; it is a validation of Rocketmine’s highly developed and effective safety culture. With drones becoming increasingly prominent in the skies, it is imperative that operators do everything in their power to minimise risk.”

BARS is an international aviation safety program which utilises basic aviation risk standards to review aircraft operators supporting companies in the resource sector, humanitarian, government and insurance organizations, in their risk oversight of contracted aviation activities.

The standard is increasingly being adopted, and is a prerequisite verification required by large mining and Oil & Gas operators of their service providers, particularly by Tier-1 and Tier-2 operators, which rely on the use of aviation to support their activities including the movement of company personnel.

The aircraft operators used for these services range from small single-engine helicopters to transport category jet aircraft that provide dedicated contract support, occasional charter or regular passenger transport services.

The program now offers two auditing streams – Core Registration and Comprehensive Registration; the latter which provides a higher level of recognition to aircraft operators selecting this auditing stream.