Addressing Emergencies in the Rapidly Changing Wind Energy Landscape
a report by Peter Hearn
Wind Energy Business Development Manager, Honeywell Safety Products
Over the past 20 years, wind turbines have literally grown into a key source in the energy supply landscape, with around 130 GW of global capacity (about 1 % of the total electricity demand). Not only has the average height of a turbine increased rapidly, but the number of turbines on each farm and the remoteness of the farms are already beyond many of the early predictions. It is not uncommon to see 200 turbines positioned 50 miles offshore, while the first onshore farms are now being re-powered, swapping a fleet of short sub-megawatt turbines for 100 metre+ multi-megawatt designs. All this progress is great for the industry and for trying to meet government targets for renewable energy capacity, but it raises an important question about addressing emergencies if something goes wrong. In such a rapidly changing landscape, procedures written a couple of years ago may be obsolete and those responsible for managing health and safety need to follow this change continuously to ensure they know what is going on across their fleet.
Appropriate Safety Equipment and Training It is true that, to work on a wind turbine, you must have been through some form of safety training. It is, however, also true that the quality and extent of that training varies widely, with national, regional and company-led differences to be found. Recommended syllabuses are available from some of the national trade bodies, but these are optional in law and are a long way from a globally agreed International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standard; also, the workers on any particular site can often be from different countries and have different employers. While the basic skills of ladder climbing are fairly universal, the same is certainly not true of access to the hub, nacelle and offshore base, use of lifts and climb-assist equipment and most importantly, the response to emergencies. Even the ideas of ‘evacuation’ and ‘rescue’ can be poorly understood. Evacuation is the rapid self-escape from a dangerous location (such as if a turbine catches fire). Rescue is the recovery of an injured casualty to a place of safety by one or more colleagues or a professional team of responders (see Figure 1). All turbines should have an evacuation device in the nacelle, but it is concerning how few operators address the need for proper rescue plans and equipment, especially regarding rescue from the hub. Appropriate
Peter Hearn is the Wind Energy Business Development Manager for Honeywell Safety Products, helping to drive the development of world-class global safety solutions. He is a leading wind energy health and safety expert, actively involved in industry training and standards development at a European level. Combining a diverse military, emergency services and merchant navy service history with eight years in the petroleum and renewable energy industries, he has a unique
understanding of the health and safety challenges faced in today’s onshore and offshore wind energy sectors.
E:
miller.windenergy@sperian.com
equipment (e.g. the Miller SafEscape™ ELITE rescue and descent device) can be used for both responses (see Figure 2). However, without proper training to learn how to set up anchor systems, use stretchers or spine boards and adapt special techniques for different turbine designs, even the best equipment is not going to help a worker in a panic.
Workers will have different levels of training for rescue scenarios, as well as limited hands-on experience or practice. Some employers assume that the emergency services will handle everything. Unfortunately, the emergency services may not do so, for various reasons (not trained, site is too remote, other interventions, etc.).
Raising the Industry's Standard
As an industry, accident rates are comparatively low compared with the construction and power generation sectors. But as the number of workers on-site and the complexity of emergency response increase, so will the number of incidents. Operators and manufacturers need to collaborate in raising standards, not only to ensure that everyone is fully compliant legally, but also that a cost-effective system can be implemented where the highly mobile workforce can pass from site to site without extensive retraining. With remote locations and specialist access, it is unlikely that government inspectors will visit for a spot check; but they will most certainly call if someone is injured and at that point it is too late to assess the risks.
The oil and gas industry had to learn the hard way that remote, hazardous work required it to invest in extensive training, on-site paramedics, rescue teams and equipment. Often, an offshore wind farm (see Figure 3) might have only three workers, a boat, a first aid kit and an emergency survival box. The wind industry has not been pressured through legislation to adopt oil and gas protocols. As ‘conventional’ offshore contractors begin to deploy and manage turbines, pressure for everyone to adopt higher standards is being demanded. Offshore workers realise the high cost of training and equipment and that it is indeed an investment worth paying for.
Assessment and Standardisation
There are simple steps to follow to handle these issues. First, assess the site:
• •
• •
Who is on the site?
What level of training do they have – how closely are workers actually following it?
What safety equipment is installed? What personal protection equipment (PPE) is issued?
Secondly, if workers are using equipment that they are not trained on, or have to switch between markedly different equipment from site to site, mistakes are far more likely. If workers travel hundreds of miles
70 © TOUCH BRIEFINGS 2011
Wind – HSE
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