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OPTIMISING
SAFETY
A NECESSARY
INVESTMENT RenewableUK is delighted to work with Global Wind Organisation (GWO) to explore the topics surrounding safety and workforce training in offshore wind.
Safety is a priority in any offshore industry. It is one of the key standards by which companies are judged, recommended, and used, making safety records a vital part of any portfolio. For organisations looking to transition from offshore oil and gas into offshore wind – including manufacturers, project designers, developers and organisers, transport providers and more – applying the same commitment to safety is paramount. Global Wind Organisation (GWO) is a non profit body owned by the world’s largest manufacturers and owners of wind turbines who are keen to highlight that safety protocols and standards are not the same across the two industries. This means domain-specific training will be critical for a successful transition.
An accelerated transition There is a growing number of traditionally oil and gas companies now moving into the offshore wind sector, with several major players investing heavily to enter the market in 2020/21. Net zero targets and government initiatives are encouraging and facilitating this move towards renewables, with many organisations looking to secure the future of their business in this new and highly prosperous sector. To streamline and therefore further enable this transition, some re-training of the workforce is essential. Of course, many workers will already have some very useful knowledge and many applicable skills from their experience in offshore oil and gas – while these are certainly transferable, the domain of a wind turbine and one’s knowledge of how to work safely are necessarily different.
www.ogv.energy I September 2021
For over 30 years, we’ve designed and manufactured market-leading anti-slip safety products that hugely improve safety standards on stairways, walkways, decks, ladders, ramps, gangways and pipes, in a range of industrial settings.
A safe workforce is a productive workforce To realise ambitious net zero targets, all renewable energy sectors must be allowed to flourish. In offshore wind – as in all other areas – establishing, building and inspiring an effective workforce is crucial for significant and rapid industry growth. Specialised training is just one of the potential answers to the challenges we may face, but it will be an important one for on-going productivity and success.
Domain-specific training Of course, there is no need to start from scratch; workers simply need to build on their existing knowledge and skills to better understand how these relate to their new surroundings when moving into offshore wind. There are important differences between oil and gas and offshore wind sites that must be considered carefully when moving to the latter sector, which make tailored workforce training crucial for a successful transition. The message from the GWO is that any concerns regarding the cost of this training are far outweighed by the potential safety risks of not sufficiently educating and supporting the transitioning workforce. Indeed, among the top incident areas as reported by G+ Offshore Wind Health & Safety Organisation’s 2020 incident data report was the turbine itself, which would be the main environment to differ most between offshore oil and gas and offshore wind sites. Similar findings were published by SafetyOn in onshore wind, who found that 65% of high potential incidents occurred on a turbine. For greater insight into safety issues and common hazards across the sector, there are calls for a system to collect data on a global scale using standardised methodologies, for which early-stage developments have begun. To strengthen the message in the industry and communicate the importance of training designed especially for offshore wind, GWO is promoting a new white paper which clarifies how the known risks are assessed by the wind industry HSE community and how these
translate into training standards to help mitigate the potential hazards. All GWO standards are created by the industry, for the industry, so evidence like this is imperative to ensure that guidance and educational programmes are constantly optimised for the sector. To date, more than 200 safety professionals from around the world have contributed in some way to GWO guidelines since they were first published in 2011. This is a tradition that the organisation plans to retain, continuing to use the latest risk and hazard data from the industry itself to create practical training for the next generation of offshore wind workers.
Significant potential Not only does this ensure crucial safety standards across the offshore wind industry, but it also provides reassurance for the thousands of workers entering the market. Many more individuals will be looking for new opportunities as their old industries begin to slow down and the potential of offshore wind will offer an attractive allure for some years to come. GWO has published forecasts for workforce training needs in target countries up until 2025, which predict that an additional 100,000 individuals will require GWO standard training to carry out a variety of roles in construction and installation, operations and maintenance of offshore wind projects. These forecasts demonstrate the level of support and investment in training needed to facilitate the anticipated growth in offshore wind around the world.
