Wind Energy Basic Safety Training Course Nears Completion
Some of the wind energy industry's largest competitors teamed to create the modules, which recently were tested, the Danish company Vestas Wind Systems A/S announced.
Several major companies in the wind energy industry worked together with costumers to make develop a Basic Safety Training course that has been tested and should be rolled out during the first half of this year, the Danish turbine manufacturer Vestas Wind Systems A/S announced Jan. 10. The court was developed in the framework of the Global Wind Organisation (GWO), which Vestas started in November 2009 with competitors including Siemens and Suzlon and customers including SSE Renewables, Vattenfall, and RWE Innogy.
“The renewables industry is progressing fast and with wind offshore in particular we enter a new and challenging business,” said Thomas Schuchart, safety engineer at RWE Innogy and a member of the GWO Steering Committee.“Now is the right time for joint approaches like this, and we expect that it will be highly beneficial to all of us within the industry." Currently, turbine buyers must train their technicians on different programs if they buy turbines from several manufacturers. A single, standardized Basic Safety Training course will be more efficient, as long as they are buying from a member of GWO.
"The course content is quite similar to what Vestas already has in place, but it will be more comprehensive. Today, in some areas of Vestas, documentation, when it comes to the skills of our external course providers, is not good enough. With the new standard, we set clear expectations to the providers," said Safety Specialist Lars Odby, another member of the GWO Steering Committee. Philip Hill, HSE & Education coordinator at Vestas Offshore, said the training program has been finalized and a trial of the modules has been completed. "We are aiming to make the best basic training, incorporating already known standards. We are getting a lot of great, constructive feedback, and it has just been a major team effort," he said.