Safety

When it comes to safety, Provine is absolutely uncompromising. Each year, Provine employees attend a mandatory, one-week Safety Conference. Provine is one of only two aerial applicators in the eastern United States who run their own recertification program and we have been doing so since 1990. Held at our headquarters at the Greenwood-Leflore Airport, a wide range of programs are presented, including three days of recurrent pilot training, seminars on helicopter accident prevention, chemicals, and their safe handling and application, as well as speakers from the EPA and several chemical companies. This recertification program for our pilots transfers to all other states.

In addition to the Annual Safety Meeting, we also hold a one-day, mid-season safety meeting and perform random, unannounced spot checks on all units in the field.

Provine insists upon daily preventive maintenance on our helicopters. We perform 100-hour inspections on every helicopter – under FAR part 137, we are only required to have an annual inspection. We do this because of the conditions we fly in and the types of loads we use.

At Provine, we give our ground support vehicles the same attention to detail we give our helicopters. We employ a full-time safety director who holds all our personnel to the highest possible standards for both mechanical performance and appearance. Our ground crews are required to perform DOT inspections daily, and we routinely perform unannounced spot inspections in the field. We maintain a fully equipped truck maintenance facility at our headquarters in Greenwood, and our vehicles are stored out of the weather in the off season.