HUET: validity, variants and how to get it

What HUET covers

OPITO describes the course as demonstrating competence in using safety equipment and following procedures, with a specific focus on escaping from a helicopter following ditching. The practical part happens in a pool, in a helicopter escape trainer that is lowered into the water and turned over.

The course also prepares you to travel to and from offshore installations by helicopter: the briefing, the breathing system and the drills that go with them.

• OPITO: HUET as a standalone course
• OPITO: HUET with CA-EBS standard

On its own or inside BOSIET

OPITO allows approved centres to offer HUET as a standalone course, for people who need the helicopter escape element without the full offshore induction. BOSIET includes the same element as one of its units, and FOET renews it, so a person with a current BOSIET or FOET does not need a separate HUET.

Standalone HUET comes as HUET with EBS, HUET with CA-EBS, and the tropical version T-HUET, which also has a CA-EBS variant and a variant with initial sea survival.

• OPITO: HUET as a standalone course
• OPITO: BOSIET with CA-EBS standard
• OPITO: T-HUET standard

EBS or CA-EBS

The variant follows the breathing system your helicopter operator supplies. OPITO states that HUET with EBS is for people who will be supplied with a rebreather emergency breathing system, and HUET with CA-EBS for people who will be supplied with a compressed air emergency breathing system. Your employer or the operator will say which.

For the North Sea, Offshore Energies UK keeps a mutual recognition matrix for the United Kingdom, Norway, Denmark and the Netherlands. It recognises the full BOSIET and FOET packages across the four countries, with top-ups where the breathing systems differ; the standalone HUET with EBS standard appears on it as one of the accepted rebreather courses. The tropical courses are outside the agreement.

For helicopter travel in the UK a valid shoulder breadth measurement is also required. OPITO has a one-hour standard for it, valid four years; a shoulder width above 55.9 cm is classed as extra broad.

• OPITO: HUET as a standalone course
• Offshore Energies UK: mutual recognition of basic safety training
• OPITO: shoulder breadth measurement

Before you start

OPITO's entry requirement is medical: a valid offshore medical certificate, an employer-approved equivalent, a certificate of fitness to work at sea or for diving at work, or a medical screening form from the approved centre. Everyone taking part has to be capable of physically demanding and potentially stressful activities; the escape trainer is exactly that.

• OPITO: HUET with CA-EBS standard
• OPITO: T-HUET standard

How to get it

OPITO approves the centres and holds the records; the centre runs the course.

1. Check whether you need it on its own If the job asks for BOSIET, take BOSIET: it includes helicopter escape. Standalone HUET is for people who already hold the rest, or whose work needs only the helicopter element.
2. Get the medical An offshore medical or the centre's screening form, before the course.
3. Find an approved centre OPITO lists every approved centre by country and standard. Pick the variant that matches your breathing system.
4. Attend the course One day: a briefing, then the pool and the escape trainer.
5. Get your record The centre registers your certification with OPITO, which holds it in The HUB. Employers check it on the public validity checker.

• OPITO: approved centre network
• OPITO: certificate validity checker

How long it lasts and how to renew

A HUET certificate is valid for four years, in every variant. Renew early and nothing is lost: if you enrol within 90 days before the old certificate expires, the new one runs from the old expiry date.

People who hold BOSIET renew the helicopter element through FOET instead, which is also valid four years.

• OPITO: HUET with EBS standard
• OPITO: BOSIET with CA-EBS standard

Offshore wind

GWO, which sets the training standards for wind, has no helicopter escape standard. Its Basic Safety Training covers first aid, manual handling, fire awareness, working at height and sea survival. Where a wind project moves crews by helicopter, the operator sets what it asks for.

• GWO: training standards