Aviation-specific insurance provider USAIG has added support for Operational Risk and Resilience Accreditation participation to its portfolio of safety-enhancing services, available to eligible policyholders through its Performance Vector programme. Performance Vector is available to most USAIG policyholders that insure a turbine-powered aircraft or place multiple policies with USAIG. Each eligible policy can select and receive one programme option annually as a policy benefit to enhance organisational loss control and safety efforts.

The ORRA programme, which replaced Vertical Aviation International (VAI)'s legacy Accreditation Program of Safety, is for helicopter operators seeking to transcend traditional risk management and elevate their ability to manage risks and improve operational processes. Adaptable to the demands of operators of differing size and scope, ORRA provides a robust, flexible framework that meets operators at any stage of SMS implementation and empowers a trajectory of advancement from there. VAI has partnered with VLinc Corporation to administer the ORRA programme.

Participating operators are incentivised and guided to achieve increasing degrees of operational risk and resilience functionality based on a comprehensive framework of ORRA Standards and Recommended Practices. A VLinc coach engages directly as a vital resource to keep progress on track, with accreditation and recognition earned upon reaching programme milestones:

- Participant (virtual guided policy and procedural self-assessment)

- Bronze Level (virtual self-assessment with virtual VLinc validation)

- Silver Level (Implementation assessed as 'operational' through on-site VLinc validation)

- Gold Level (Implementation assessed as 'effective' through on-site VLinc validation)

A USAIG Performance Vector ORRA enrolment will typically provide up to $2,500 per policy year, which can fully or partially subsidise policyholders' ORRA programme fees, depending on the organisation's ORRA stage level and timing of expenses incurred. To maximise the impact, policyholders wishing to apply their USAIG benefit toward ORRA should ask their aviation insurance broker to affect a Performance Vector enrolment before incurring ORRA fees.

USAIG president and CEO John Brogan sees ORRA as the right way to advance operational risk management and safety in the helicopter industry. He notes: “It's undeniably tough to add fortifying operational policies and driving positive cultural change to the long list of challenges that confront helicopter operators, but ORRA's coach-assisted model provides a clear path to achieve those aims. We've made this addition to Performance Vector because, frankly, I want to see as many of our helicopter-operating policyholders as possible achieve ORRA accreditation.”

“To have USAIG, an expert in managing risk, see the value in our ORRA programme is a testament to its ability to deliver measurable results to helicopter operators,” says James Viola, VAI president and CEO. “We are excited to work with our ORRA partners, including USAIG and VLinc, a service-disabled veteran-owned small business, to help operators improve safety, save on costs and increase their chances for business success.”

USAIG continually upgrades its popular Performance Vector suite of safety programmes to keep pace with changes and improvements in aviation safety protocols.