VAI Member Spotlight is a free service VAI provides its small business members to help increase their visibility. If your company would like to be considered for a VAI Member Spotlight, please sign up here. VAI Member Spotlight: DSS Protection, Canada Provider of helicopter equipment specializes in lifesaving support for emergency response operators. By Jen Boyer DSS Protection of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, was founded in 1998 with a shared vision to enhance safety standards across Canada’s marine industry. Each founding member of the company brought a unique set of skills, paving the way for improved communication, streamlined logistics, and product innovation. From its humble beginnings more than 25 years ago, the DSS Protection brand has expanded beyond offering marine safety products to providing support for operators in the aerospace, environmental protection, and asset protection industries. Canadian owned and operated, DSS Protection has locations in Nova Scotia, Quebec, British Columbia, and Newfoundland and Labrador. The company’s aviation division aims to provide a one-stop destination for comprehensive aviation lifesaving solutions. DSS Protection’s full suite of services includes equipment supply, maintenance, and training. Helicopter Equipment DSS Protection equipment popular with helicopter operators includes distress signals, emergency locator transmitters (ELTs), first aid kits, life rafts, helmets, commercial-grade life preservers, immersion suits, thermal protection, personal flotation devices, and search-and-rescue equipment bags. The company’s helicopter emergency egress device (HEED) personal respiratory equipment spans three models that feature capacities of 1, 2, and 3 cubic ft. Their HEED equipment is designed to be compact, lightweight, and highly portable to provide essential respiratory support during critical situations when pilots and crew members become submerged. Crash Response Kit Another unique product from the Canadian company is its helicopter crash equipment kit. This specialty kit provides the essential tools and safety equipment necessary for response and rescue operations after a helicopter crashes or makes an emergency landing. The kit complies with specific aviation regulations, industry standards, and guidelines such as those outlined by Civil Aviation Publication 437 and the International Civil Aviation Organization for offshore helicopter landing areas. Enclosed in a storage container, the kit includes a lifeline safety harness, firefighting gloves, a fire blanket, a mask with multimedia filters, a harness knife, side-cutting pliers, a bolt cutter, crowbar, hacksaw, grab hook, and a poster set with signs. The company also operates a network of marine and aviation safety service centers throughout Canada, staffed with highly trained and certified technicians. In addition to providing in-house cylinder filling stations for both low- and high-pressure bottles, DSS Protection specializes in servicing life rafts, life jackets, personal flotation devices, life preservers, emergency position-indicating radio beacons/personal locator beacons/ELTs, immersion suits, survival kits, and helicopter floats, including for the Sikorsky S-92/H-92 and the AgustaWestland AW101/EH101. Silver Anniversary DSS Protection celebrated its 25th year of business in 2023. The company cites its continued commitment to integrity, innovation, and customer satisfaction as the reason for its long-standing relationships with suppliers and operators. Jen Boyer is a journalist and marketing communicator specializing in aviation. She holds commercial, instrument, flight instructor, and instrument instructor ratings in helicopters and a private rating in airplanes.
