The European Parliament has approved new EU-wide rules to ensure the safe use of drones.
The new rules, which will have to be approved by EU ministers before becoming law, aim to create a common level of safety for both drone operators and manufacturers.
Currently, drones lighter than 150kg fall under the jurisdiction of individual member states, so manufacturers and operators are subject to different safety requirements.
But under the new Europe-wide aviation safety rules, all drones will need to be designed so that they can be operated without putting people or other airspace users at risk.
In addition, some drone operators will be required to go through training before they can operate a drone without endangering people or other airspace users.
And to help identify the drone operators if there is an incident, drone operators will need to be on national registers and their drones marked for identification. This would not apply to operators of the smallest drones, however.
The EU Commission is also developing more detailed rules, such as maximum altitude and distance limits for drone flight, and which drone operations and drones would need to be certified based on the risk they pose.
These rules would also determine which operators need additional training and to be registered and which drones would need to have additional safety features.
According to the EU, the rapidly-developing drone sector will create more than 150,000 jobs by 2050 and within 10 years it could account for 10% of the EU’s aviation market, equating to around €15 billion per year .
The development of drone technology is opening new opportunities for the health & safety sector to complete dangerous, large-scale or hard-to-access tasks more easily and securely.
Drones will be among the talking points during the Technology debate at next week’s Safety & Health Expo (19-21 June), as a panel of experts discuss how drones, virtual reality and other technology could rapidly influence health & safety risk reduction strategies.
Running alongside the Safety & Health Expo at ExCeL London, IFSEC International 2018 will be home to the Drone Zone – a dedicated area showcasing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Visitors will have the unique chance to see the live application of UAVs and better understand how they can help you protect your business. Your free ticket to Safety & Health Expo will also get you into IFSEC International, located right next door.
For more information on the Drone Zone, please see the video below…
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