Safety

An inside look at how safety standards are created for the wind industry

BY WESLEY WITT, CHAIR; AND KRISTY ABEL, VICE CHAIR | GWO NORTH AMERICA COMMITTEE

The amount of standardized safety training continues to increase year-over-year across North America in the wind industry because companies gain productivity and a more fl exible workforce, while workers are more easily hired and valuable to their employers.

In 2020, the number of Global Wind Organisation (GWO) training modules completed grew by 30% compared to the previous year and exceeded 10,000 courses in North America. More and more technicians are trained in basic safety training (BST) that includes fi rst aid, manual handling, fi re awareness and working at heights.

Additionally, growth is seen in basic technical training (BTT) and advanced rescue training (ART). BTT covers safe working activities in relation to the mechanical, electrical and hydraulic components of a wind turbine, while ART enables technicians to perform up-tower rescue in the nacelle, tower, hub, spinner and inside the blade using industrystandard rescue equipment.

Comparing 2019 to 2020, completed BTT courses grew by 24% across North America, while the number of ART courses completed rose by an amazing 600% — illustrating how the standard created by GWO members met an industry need for up-tower rescue.

Technicians with certifi cations in all three GWO standards (BST, BTT and ART) can save employers approximately three weeks of entry level training, allowing them to perform safely and effectively on wind turbines.

An additional benefi t of GWO standard training for employers is that certifi cates for completed courses are uploaded to WINDA, the global wind industry training records database. Employers can use the database to verify certifi cations of employees and contractors who have fi nished GWOcertifi ed training courses, essentially making the hiring and onboarding more effi cient and effective.

An inside look at development of training standards

GWO standards are created by the industry, for the industry. The membership of globally leading OEMs and owner-operators use a dynamic list of known risks and hazards faced by wind turbine technicians to inform their development of training standards.

There are currently 25 top hazards and risks grouped into GWO’s current list. There are risks on the list, like diving and helicopter transfer, for example, that GWO members know there is already an established training standard available and there is no need to re-invent the wheel. Since this list was last published, working with lifts/ elevators has also been developed into a new GWO training standard — the GWO Basic Lift User course.

The beginning for development of a standard is analysis of data, including injury records, risk statistics and existing training programs already in use by wind turbine manufacturers and owner-operators, which are the GWO membership.

Specifi cally a standard for control of hazardous energy (COHE) was released in October 2021.

The COHE standard addresses several electrical challenges for employers, which are working on energized systems working in high voltage.

The team developing the COHE standard begin with a problem-solving statement that specifi es the training standard is intended to mitigate safety risks of hazardous energies for technicians in the wind industry and reduce the need for company-specifi c COHE trainings while ensuring effi cient resource allocation and stakeholder collaboration.

We have observed that the GWO current training standards aren’t fully refl ecting the risk environment faced by technicians in the wind industry in terms of hazardous energies, which is a central part of the value proposition for GWO, like creating risk-based training that refl ects the risk environment in the wind industry.

The process for development of the COHE training standard includes three areas of focus: • Analysis of members’ needs and requirements to create the COHE standard. • Design of a minimum viable product standard based on identifi ed needs. • Develop and test of the training standard to increase technicians’ knowledge of hazardous energies, their characteristics and how to recognize them.

This training will increase technicians’ skills to measure for the presence of hazardous energy and to isolate the sources of hazardous energy.

This is a complex area, governed by a wide range of regulatory systems depending on where you are based. For example, working with electricity in Europe is a protected profession requiring several years in education after high school. In other countries, simply calling oneself an electrician can be enough to qualify.

Nevertheless, the COHE standard will do what GWO training standards always do — look at the risks and hazards specifi c to a wind turbine environment and provide training that helps workers avoid injury in that place of work.

The standard will be built on a foundation of learning objectives that the GWO instructors must achieve with their students in the specifi ed time. Each learning objective incorporates lesson elements where instructors teach students using a taxonomy guide supporting learning in three domains: knowledge, skills and ability. Within those three domains, the lessons will either be at the basic level, intermediate or advanced.

With COHE still under development, the lessons and learning objectives remain under wraps until the training is piloted by a select group of training providers.

For the industry, by the industry

Standards for the wind industry are developed by working groups, which consist of subject matter experts from GWO member companies. This is key because standards are created and developed by specialists who understand the various roles of wind technicians, turbine components and technologies, risks, hazards, local regulations and challenges. The working groups also ensure that each standard complies with regional and national legislation.

Next, the COHE training standard is approved by the GWO training committee. The training committee is made of leaders also from member companies who specialize in health, safety and environment, learning and development and operations.

In addition to creating and developing training standards, existing GWO courses are reviewed and updated through a constant review cycle to refl ect a changing risk landscape using feedback from GWO members, training providers and certifi cation bodies. This year, updates were made to basic technical training with a more specifi c equipment list, Rigger Signal Person with simplifi ed instructions resulting in a savings of two hours for the course and Blade Repair where further emphasis was added to the craftsmanship skills in grinding materials to perform repairs.

Inside North America

The GWO North America committee was formed in 2019 to align standards with any regulatory requirements or practices prevalent or in development in the region. Working groups are also underway in North America to create and tailor standards for the region.

One working group is now assessing challenges and opportunities for GWO standardized training in North America for onshore and offshore wind. The intent is to ensure that GWO standards continue to meet the regulatory environment of North America, make training more effi cient and reduce retraining.

Stakeholders collaborating in North America include Avangrid Renewables, ENERCON Canada, GE Onshore Wind – Renewables, RWE Renewables, Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy and Vestas Wind Systems.

Across the North America region, standardized safety and technical training offers advantages for companies and the workforce to make renewable energy a reality for both onshore and offshore wind turbine industry. WPE

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