Health and safety training standards and requirements for personnel in the offshore wind power industry

Health and safety training standards and requirements
for personnel in the offshore wind power industry

Introduction
With the rapid growth of the wind power industry in recent years, and the expected
continued expansion to meet EU targets by 2050, the sector is in danger of suffering a skills
shortage throughout the various types of employment within the industry.

The EWEA’s wind at work report of 2009 (1) concluded that on average 15.1 jobs for a year
are created in the EU for every MW of power installed per year, and 0.4 long term jobs are
created per MW of cumulative capacity in operations and maintenance and other activities.
The EWEA data from 2007 showed that 108,000 people were employed in the wind industry
throughout the EU; 37% of which were employed by wind turbine manufacturers and 22%
by component suppliers. The report also estimated that a further 42,000 people were
employed indirectly as a result of the wind energy industry; making it responsible for
150,000 jobs in total. That figure is expected to double by 2020, based on estimates of a
total of 180GW of installed wind power, and half of those jobs are expected to be based
offshore.

Source: Siemens press picture

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RenewableUK (formerly the BWEA) studies in 2008 showed that 5,000 people were
employed in the UK in the wind power industry (2). With an expected increase to 34GW of
installed power by 2020, the employment figure is estimated to rise to 57,000. Among the
professions to be singled out as being in danger of a shortage were health and safety
specialists.

With the increase in wind energy continuing over the coming decades the shortage of
skilled staff is an issue which the industry must address, and one of the key issues within
that shortage is developing not only the safety standards for these employees to work to,
but the professionals to implement and uphold those standards.

Wind energy specific health and safety issues
Due to the specific nature of the operation of a wind farm there are several issues that
relate particularly to the wind industry, although some of the types of work, and therefore
guidelines, can be borrowed from other more established industries. RenewableUK is one of
the leading organisations in Europe in terms of training for health and safety on offshore
wind farms. It details some of the specific issues in its model training course, designed to
assist with training to aid implementation of the WTSR’s (Wind Turbine Safety Rules) (3),
and in its Approved training standard for ‘Working at Height and Rescue – Wind Turbines’
(4).

The model training course breaks down the areas of health and safety to be considered into
to clear sections:

• The wind turbine, its plant, and its associated low voltage (LV) infrastructure. Low
voltage means equal to, or less than 1000V AC / 1500V DC. The WTSR’s apply to
this section.
• The high voltage (HV) infrastructure, where high voltage is greater than 1000V AC /
1500V DC. Separate HV rules apply to this section.

The plant includes the mechanical parts, and the low voltage apparatus includes the
electrical parts. Safety issues within these systems include rotating parts, temperature and

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pressure; low voltage electricity; and substances such as chemicals and lubricants. The
electro-mechanical systems are considered to be relatively simple and are virtually identical
in each turbine. They are usually operated on by small working parties, often in isolated
locations; and most of the work is isolated to one turbine not affecting others on the wind
farm. The dangers are associated with either the system itself or the work environment and
in the vicinity of the work yet not related to the actual tasks being carried out.

The ‘Working at Height and Rescue’ approved training standards cover wind turbine specific
issues such as, pre-entry, entry, ascending and descending within the tower and base,
working in the yaw platform, and working in or on the nacelle. The training standards
include detail on the use of harnesses, work positioning, work restraint, inertia reels,
lanyards and shock absorbers (including calculation of clearance distances), placement of
anchors and suitability of anchor points, CE markings and applicable EN standards, the
principles and methods of 100% attachment, and working at height PPE and restraint
equipment. The standards also set out training on emergency rescue techniques related to
wind turbines, including the selection, inspection and use of rescue equipment, rescue
techniques for recovery of a casualty (both conscious and unconscious) from a vertical
ladder and from the nacelle side, rescue from within or on the side of the hub, and casualty
handling techniques.

Common types of offshore incidents
The Offshore Safety Division (OSD) produced a report for the Health and Safety laboratory
in 2009, relating to the underlying causes of offshore incidents (5). The aim of which was to
identify the causes of offshore incidents which resulted in fatalities, major injuries and
major dangerous occurrences, and to determine any trends arising from the research. They
analyzed 67 major incidents, of which 5 resulted in fatalities and 62 resulted in major
injuries. The findings are of benefit to the wind industry as it looks to improve on the health
and safety measures it can take to prevent these types of occurrence.

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They found that the predominant injury was a fracture, and that younger workers were
involved in fewer incidents than older workers. 11 were aged 21-30, 18 from 31-40, 17
from 41-50, and 15 from the 51-60 age group. It was also noted that the majority of the
injured parties, 42, worked for a contractor, where only 25 worked for the installation
operator.

The most common incidents were:

• Struck by a moving, flying or falling object; the injury sustained by the impact.
• Injured while handling, lifting or carrying equipment.
• Falls from height.
• Slips or falls on the same level.

The most common underlying causes of reported incidents were interpreted as:

• Inadequate risk assessment or hazard analysis.
• Lack of supervision.
• Lack of, or inadequate operating procedures.
• Inadequacies in permit-to-work.

The report recommended targeted inspection activity in several issues; permit-to-work,
supervision, monitoring, audit and review, operating procedures, planning and
implementation, reference to MHSWR (Management of Health and Safety at Work
Regulations), and reference to LOLER (Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment
Regulations).

Want to learn more about health and safety standards for the offshore wind
power industry?
Visit our download centre for more articles, white papers and interviews:
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References

(1) http://www.ewea.org/fileadmin/ewea_documents/documents/publications/Wind_at_
work_FINAL.pdf
(2) http://www.thecrownestate.co.uk/round3_supply_chain_gap_analysis.pdf
(3) http://www.bwea.com/pdf/safety/WTSR-007.pdf
(4) http://www.bwea.com/pdf/safety/RenewableUK_WAH_2010_v5.pdf
(5) http://www.hse.gov.uk/offshore/offshore-incidents.pdf

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Health and safety training standards and requirements for personnel in the offshore wind power industry