Future Looks Bright for Viscom
30 March 2009
Conjuring up a sun-drenched Thai location on a Norfolk airfield in December is just one of the tricks of the trade that has helped Viscom (Aberdeen) Ltd deliver results on a significant new agreement regarding the provision of passenger safety briefings.
The multimedia company was recently asked to help consolidate helicopter passenger safety briefing material for CHC Helicopter Corporation, one of the world's leading helicopter service providers, who wanted to standardise its briefings world-wide.
CHC, which operates approximately 250 aircraft in 35 countries, realised that having different versions of essentially the same briefing produced on five different continents was counterproductive, meant there was no recognized 'house style' and led to inconsistency.
Working with Aberdeen-based CHC European operations, Viscom was tasked with producing new briefings as required, initially incorporating existing material until the entire catalogue is replaced by new Viscom material.
CHC Global Operations worked together with Viscom to produce a briefing guideline template which specified the content for each specific aircraft type based on regulatory requirements.
The first job to be tackled was the production of a briefing for four new Sikorsky 76C++ aircraft designated for use by TAS, CHC's operation in Thailand.
Bruce Milne, Viscom General Manager explained: "Since access to the aircraft where they were being prepared prior to deployment was not possible, Viscom filmed the necessary material on a similar aircraft at CHC's base in North Denes, Great Yarmouth using survival equipment sourced in Norway and a seating harness sourced on the Faroe Islands.
"The real challenge however was making the east of England in winter look like Thailand! Fortunately on one of the filming days the sun shone just enough to give the impression of a warm climate, which was just as well since the person acting as the passenger was in a short sleeve shirt."
A helicopter passenger safety briefing was then prepared based on the new template with a Thai voiceover and was delivered on time for the briefing to be in place for the aircraft 'going live'.
Viscom is now working on helicopter briefings and fixed wing briefings for use in West Africa and helicopter briefings for use in Kazakhstan.
James Land, Emergency Response Coordinator for CHC Helicopters, Global Operations said: "Viscom was selected for the job because of its long association with the production of helicopter passenger safety briefings, the quality and content of its products, its in-house capabilities and administration expertise.
"We are confident that Viscom has the expertise and facilities to provide the briefings that we require world-wide. We are positive that their approach will reduce our administrative requirement and therefore costs in managing each production".
The expected annual value of this agreement is around £35,000 depending on requirements.
Viscom is a video and multimedia company primarily serving the corporate market. The company uses the latest technology in multimedia and video to produce a diverse range of innovative and cost-effective visual communication solutions including safety briefings, video production in many formats, multimedia authoring, duplication and the print and packaging of CD-ROM or DVD video discs.
CHC is one of the world's largest providers of helicopter services to the global offshore oil and gas industry, with aircraft operating in more than 30 countries worldwide. CHC oversees its three operating divisions (CHC Global Operations, CHC European Operations and Heli-One) from its global headquarters in Vancouver, Canada.
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