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

8/3/2019 Health and safety training standards and requirements for personnel in the offshore wind power industry

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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 EWEAs 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 WTSRs (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. Lowvoltage means equal to, or less than 1000V AC / 1500V DC. The WTSRs apply tothis 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 windpower industry?

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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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