On the 20th of February Dean Lomax Travelled to Perth to undertake a course in Offshore Emergency and Sea Survival. All of the applicants were subjected to real life emergency situations, all of which can be very real dangers whilst working in an offshore environment, and taught them how to react and respond to the situation. Some aspects the course includes are fire fighting, first aid and HUET.

HUET stands for Helicopter Underwater Emergency Training. The basic idea behind the training is to fill a helicopter cockpit with people, drop the helicopter into a swimming pool and let the students free themselves from the submerged cockpit on their own accord, not to mention, if you get out of the cockpit then they put you back in it and drop it again, upside down. That said, that was how the course sounded to me. The course is

studiously thought out, brilliantly planned, diligently supervised and teaches the correct procedure for dealing with emergency situations, it also assures that no harm comes to anyone being dropped into a pool in a helicopter.

Completion of the course on Dean’s behalf means he is now qualified to work in an offshore environment and has also spurred interest in the purchase of Lomax Media’s first chopper.

The thirteenth of February marked a new chapter in Australian History, the day that Australia’s Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, made a formal apology to the indigenous Australians, in particular to the stolen generation for the actions of previous Australian governments and their assimilation policies.

Whilst the main action was happening in Canberra, the City of Bunbury held it’s own ceremony at the Graham Bricknell Music Shell in Bicentennial Square, this was fortunate for cameramen Kieran Pope and Jordan Smith seeing as Canberra is on the other side of the Country. The event was intensely emotional and featured a performance by Djidi Djidi Aboriginal School, Kevin Rudd’s formal apology and speeches by several members of the stolen generation accounting the hardships of being torn from their families.

The thirteenth was also a big day for Jordan Smith, marking his first unaided film shoot. Jordan went into the job full of confidence and returned with footage that amazed all in the office. We all think that Jordan is a fine asset to the team and that there is obviously not much left that we can teach him.

Written and Edited by Jordan Smith. 

Cameramen Dean Lomax and Shannon O’Donohue have just recently returned from Exmouth, where they have spent three days filming the annual Rio Tinto Emergency Response Skills Challenge.

Twelve emergency response teams from twelve mine sites in the east Pilbara come together to test and compare their skills against each other and the apparatus. Each team attempts a series of rigorous challenges including fire fighting, extrication, BA/confined spaces and first aid to name a few, each scenario more physically and emotionally testing then the last.

Whilst the atmosphere is competitive, the challenge is held in the hope of preparing the teams for real life situations,