Man killed by whirling helicopter blades

The Straits Times, Sat 1st April 2006

A man was killed instantly when he was struck on the head by a helicopter's whirling blades. I am really sad to hear of such a tragedy. I believe that such an accident could have been avoided if more saftey precautions were taken. It is said that helicopter blades should be stationary before passengers are allowed to alight or board the helicopter, but this was not the case for Mr Joseph Chan who got hit by the helicopter's whirling blades while hurrying away from it. If there had been more stricter saftey measures taken, i believe that Mr Joseph Chan would still be alive today. If only Mr Chan had stopped and waited for the helicopter's blades to stop whirling, it might have made a big difference to his life. The company that Mr Chan was working for should have hired a professional helicopter handler to be in charge of escorting students to the helicopter instead of getting Mr Chan to do the job when he had no prior knowledge of how to get close safely to a helicopter. In this case, i feel that the company Mr Joseph Chan was working in is to blame as they should have taken into consideration the saftey factor of the job and should not have let Mr Chan work too close to a helicopter that is starting rotate its blades.