Author: STL USA team

Under the hood of GWO safety training. All your questions answered.

We get asked a ton of questions about GWO safety training so we thought we’d pull them all together into this handy Q&A.

We regularly get asked about GWO safety training, why you need it and what are the benefits so here’s the lowdown.

GWO training has been around since 2012 when it first published it’s Basic Safety Training Standard (BST) in response to demand for a recognisable standard in the wind turbine industry. This was follow up with the Basic Training Technical Standard in 2017. GWO members, which includes anyone who’s anyone in the industry, accept a BST certificate as confirmation a technician or other wind turbine professional possesses the required knowledge to stop an unsafe work situation. In plain english it means that you need the certificates if you want to work on a GWO members turbines.

What is GWO?

GWO stands for Global Wind Organisation. A non-profit body GWO was founded by wind turbine manufacturers and owners.

Why does GWO exist?

GWO was created by it’s members to strive for an injury free work environment in the wind turbine industry, setting common international standards for safety training and emergency procedures.

What are GWO training standards?

GWO training standards describe the requirements for training courses that are recommended by members of GWO. By complying with GWO standards and criteria, certified training providers are considered competent and proficient.

How do they work?

GWO members create training standards reflecting the risks their technicians face at work
Training providers, certified according to GWO criteria, deliver the training
Employers accept the training of GWO-certified technicians, wherever they were trained
Employers avoid duplicating training and technicians are available for more productive workdays on site

How do I know a training provider is certified?

We’ve added the logo to the image at the top of this blog. Here it is again

Only certified training establishments can display this logo. You can also ask to see a certificate issued directly by the GWO.

What are the individual GWO safety training standards?

As the industry has grown and evolved the standards have adapted to reflect the safety hazards, they currently include:

Basic Safety Training Standard
Basic Safety Training Refresher Standard
Basic Training Technical Standard
Advanced Rescue Training Standard
Advanced Rescue Training Refresher Standard
Enhanced First Aid Standard
Enhanced First Aid Refresher Standard

Do they make the work environment safer?

Absolutely. A survey of members shows 62% strongly agree that GWO standards have improved alignment and quality of basic safety standards across the industry.

I have training how does this measure up?

GWO provide a merit system for organisations with training systems in place. This assesses the training you have, identifying any gaps and subject to receiving training on those gaps you or and your employees can become accredited.

How long do the courses take?

Most courses are run over one or two days with practical training and assessment. Refreshers usual take a day and should be taken annually.

Where can I study?

STL operate GWO safety training courses at state of the art facilities in Huntstville, Texas and Estherville, Iowa.

How can I book a course?

That’s the easy bit. Fill in our form a tell us what you need, don’t worry if you’re not 100% sure one of our team will be able to advise you on the most suitable course for your situation.

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January wind energy news round up

We like to keep our finger on the pulse of the wind energy sector so here’s our wind energy news round up with all the top stories from January.

The start of the year has been predictably busy so save some time and read through our wind energy news round up of all the top stories.

AWEA San Diego coming up.

We can’t wait for the AWEA Wind Project O&M and Safety conference at the end of September in San Diego. We’v got a detailed preview in our blog, here. STL will be exhibting, come and see us to talk all thing GWO training.

Budweiser embraces wind energy.

This Bud’s For a Better Tomorrow. (PRNewsfoto/Budweiser)

In Budweiser’s latest Super Bowl ad the brewer highlights its long term commitment to renewable energy. This kind of coverage is amazing for wind energy beaming directly into the homes of millions of consumers and leading the way in responsible energy sourcing.

In 2018 Budweiser announced its commitment to be brewed with 100% renewable electricity from wind power. To celebrate this they are showcasing the commitment on the biggest stage of all. Once again corporate America leads the way in committing to renewables.

Tufts launches M.S in offshore wind engineering.

The first of it’s kind in the USA the masters degrees is testament to the growth in the wind energy sector.

“If wind power is to continue its growth as an energy source, we need not only research and development, but also programs that educate a generation of engineers who are devoted to sustainable development and energy independence,”

comments Laurie Baise, professor and chair of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, via TuftsNow.

“This is a first step toward making climate and energy sustainability a priority.”

Interested in the course? Find out more here.

Canada joins international renewable energy agency.

Canada has officially become a member of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). Joining 159 other countries countries in an organisation devoted to providing clean, sustainable energy for the world’s growing population. The announcement was made earlier this month by Amarjeet Sohi, Canada’s minister of natural resources.

IRENA helps countries to transition to renewable energy, providing a platform for international cooperation and learning on all things renewable energy.

Washington D.C mayor commits to 100% renewable by 2032.

With the mayor’s signing of the Clean Energy D.C. Omnibus Act of 2018, Washington, D.C., has officially committed to transition to 100% renewable electricity by 2032. Joining states such as California and Hawaii as well as 100+ municipalities Washington D.C is the latest to formally commit to a 100% renewable energy goal. This is great news and shows how committed the US is to a sustainable energy future.

That’s it for our news round up we hope you’ve enjoyed the stories. All that’s left to say is see you in San Diego for the AWEA conference!

The wind energy boom.

2019 looks set to be a big year for wind energy across the USA, we look at some of the stats and factors driving this growth.

In the 10 years to 2019 the cumulative capacity of wind energy has tripled to over 90,000 MW. Texas leads the nation with over 24,000 people employed in the wind energy sector. In 2017 four states produced more than 30% of their electricity from wind. Over $145 Billion has been invested in wind in the USA over the last 10 years. From our own perspective we’re seeing a huge increase in demand for our GWO training courses within a sector committed to employee safety.

With figures like these it’s no wonder the sector is booming and all this despite a national backdrop that is removing the nation from the Paris climate accords and trying to revive the failing coal industry. Whilst the investment numbers are staggering the drive to renewables could be seen as somewhat of a grass roots initiative. Despite the national agenda cities are pushing to be 100% renewable by 2035, we covered this last December when we focused on Cincinnati becoming the 100th city to commit to decarbonization.

This month we see the AWEA’s San Diego conference where the industry comes together to discuss and solve the issues that we face, not least due to the fast growth we are experiencing. It’s good to see that the industry is so committed to safety with GWO accreditations now being mandatory for wind turbine workers. The corporate sector is also doing it’s bit. It’s become common place to hear of large corporations like Facebook, WalMart and AT&T commit to wind energy for their electricity needs. It seems the people on the ground and in our corporations believe in wind energy as the solution to their long term sustainability plans which is great news all round.

In fact we are seeing somewhat of a snowball effect. Whether this is driven by need, necessity or great PR mileage it all signals a sector where wind turbine technician jobs are now one of the two fastest growing jobs in the USA. What’s also hugely encouraging are the large numbers of veterans who work within the wind sector. STL has a long history of working with veterans once they have finished serving their country, the skills they learn in the military translate perfectly to the wind sector which is why veterans are employed at a rate 72% above the national average.

To discover more about STL head over to the homepage and find out more about our world class training facilities and courses.

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Preview San Diego AWEA Wind Project O&M and Safety Conference

This February sees the luminaries of wind energy come together in San Diego for the AWEA Wind Project O&M and Safety Conference.

We’re excited to be exhibiting at the AWEA Wind Project O&M and Safety Conference taking place on February the 27-28th in the beautiful city of San Diego. The conference is an opportunity for the industry to come together and discuss the unique challenges it faces, meet our friends and colleagues from across the sector and find solutions to the problems we face in areas such as health and safety and workforce training and development.

STL will be rubbing shoulders with the likes of Eon and Vestas as well as myriad other suppliers who are all playing an important role in the amazing sector growth we are seeing across the USA. As the wind energy industry continues to expand, so does the need for an evolving approach to operating the nation’s growing number of wind projects. Luckily it’s a sector high on experience, our own global experience included, and a great opportunity to showcase how we can assist the increasing demands that face all of us if we are to continue the meteoric rise of wind energy.

For STL it’s a chance to highlight our range of GWO training courses that we provide at locations throughout the country. If you are planning on attending come and see us, we can take you through the full range of courses, refreshers and accreditations to ensure you and your team in the field are safe and compliant.

It will also be a chance to meet some of our team including Ben Williams our Technical Director. It’s Ben’s role to head up our training ensuring we maintain both cutting edge facilities and course content. As well as our full range of GWO land based courses we will also be highlighting some of our offshore specialist courses such as survival at sea.

Equipment will also feature, having just launched a new range of rescue kits we have something to cover every emergency no matter how big or small.

One thing you can be assured of is a warm welcome at the STL booth, we know we’ll get one in sunny San Idgeo.

See you there!

If you would like to make an appointment to discuss our training services and safety equipment for the wind energy sector fill in our contact form and we will reserve a mutually convenient time to meet.

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Looking ahead to 2019

We’re looking ahead to 2019 and what is set to be a bumper year of news, launches and growth for the wind energy sector.

As we’re looking ahead to 2019 we thought we highlight some of the stories cropping up on a daily basis and some of the new products we’re bringing to market in the coming weeks. To say we’re looking forward to the year ahead is an understatement, we anticipate lots of hard work, big growth and maybe the odd mad challenge (Director Ben cycled from Canada to Mexico last year!).

Wind energy explodes

As wind energy projects show no signs of slowing down news pours in of new projects and major project developments. EDF Renewables North America has commissioned the Copenhagen Wind project in the US east coast state of New York. With turbines supplied by Vestas for the wind farm located in the Lewis and Jefferson counties, upstate.

Nordex has announced a 48 turbine deal with an unnamed independent power producer in Texas.

Capital Power Corporation has started commercial operations at its 99MW New Frontier wind farm in North Dakota.

Despite potential delays due to the government shutdown the Vinyard offshore farm has continued to receive endorsements from environmental groups, most recently including the Association to Preserve Cape Cod.

The USA wind sector is officially the fastest growing jobs sector.

This is just a snapshot of the news in the last 3 weeks! With so much gong on it’s hard to keep track. STL USA will make sure we highlight the best news from the sector and keep you up to speed on all things safety.

New product launches

January sees the launch of a host of new STL bags and safety kits. Hardy all-weather bags for any requirement and rescue kits including; First responder, Tower rescue, First aid and Rig rescue complete the latest range of market leading STL equipment. We’ve put a big focus on kits for the start of 2019 enabling workers at height to perform their duties in the harshest of conditions safe in the knowledge that if things do go wrong they have the right equipment to get them out of a jam.

STL has a long track record of supplying market leading safety equipment alongside it’s GWO training courses to global companies. Head over to our UK website for more info.

Here’s to a great 2019!

GWO course dates for January, February and March 2019

Happy New Year to everyone working in wind energy! We kick off the New Year with all our GWO course dates for 2019.

2018 saw the launch of the dedicated Safety Technology USA website where you can find out everything you need to know about our GWO training courses, course content and who the team are that oversee all of our training options at our centers across the USA.

Join our newsletter to make sure you get the latest course dates and options and don’t fall behind with your accreditations.

The latest course dates are:

January 2019

GWO Working at Height 2nd & 28th January 2019 Sweetwater, Texas Refresher

GWO First Aid Refresher 3rd & 29th January 2019 Sweetwater, Texas

GWO Fire Awareness & Manual Handling 4th, 25th & 30th January 2019 Sweetwater, Texas

GWO Working at Height 21st & 22nd January 2019 Sweetwater, Texas

GWO First Aid 23rd & 24th January 2019 Sweetwater, Texas

GWO Working at Height 14th & 15th January 2019 Estherville, IOWA

GWO First Aid 16th & 17th January 2019 Estherville, IOWA

GWO Fire Awareness & Manual Handling 18th January 2019 Estherville, IOWA

February 2019

GWO Working at Height 4th February 2019 Estherville, IOWA Refresher

GWO First Aid Refresher 5th February 2019 Estherville, IOWA

GWO Fire Awareness & Manual Handling 6th & 22nd February 2019 Estherville, IOWA

GWO Working at Height 18th & 19th February 2019 Estherville, IOWA

GWO First Aid 20th & 21st February 2019 Estherville, IOWA

GWO Working at Height 11th & 12th February 2019 Sweetwater, Texas

GWO First Aid 13th & 14th February 2019 Sweetwater, Texas

GWO Fire Awareness & 15th February 2019 Sweetwater, Texas Manual Handling

March 2019

GWO Working at Height 18th March 2019 Sweetwater, Texas Refresher

GWO First Aid Refresher 19th March 2019 Sweetwater, Texas

GWO Fire Awareness & Manual Handling 15th & 20th March 2019 Sweetwater, Texas

GWO Working at Height 11th & 12th March 2019 Sweetwater, Texas

GWO First Aid 13th & 14th March 2019 Sweetwater, Texas

GWO Working at Height 18th & 19th March 2019 Estherville, IOWA

GWO First Aid 20th & 21st March 2019 Estherville, IOWA

GWO Fire Awareness & 22nd March 2019 Estherville, IOWA Manual Handling

Enquire about a GWO training course now and let our experienced team help you through the booking process.

Cities push for 100% renewable energy.

As Cincinnati becomes the 100th US city to set a goal to move to 100% renewable energy by 2035 we look at the movement that shows no sign of stopping on the road to decarbonizing electricity.

Whilst Cincinnati only has a relatively small population at around 300,000 more populous cities such as San Jose and San Diego have already pledged to hit 100% and it’s estimated that 15% of the total US population live in cities which have set a 100% mandate. All this in a backdrop where the national administration is actively removing itself from the Paris climate change accord and struggling to revive the failing coal industry.

As we’ve heard recently in the press the debate seems to be shifting, less focus on whether or not to decarbonize electricity but when and how fast should it be done. There’s also some ambiguity in what carbon free electricity actually means, in many cases renewables are explicitly mentioned as the solution which does leave the door open for new nuclear plants but these take time to build and there aren;’t any new plants scheduled in California at any rate.

All roads point to renewables which in our opinion is somewhat of an inevitability. Nationally there are some great signs The fledgling US offshore market is likely to make up 15% of all new capacity in the next 10 years as pioneering states such as Massachusetts and New York are joined by California and Delaware in procuring and promoting offshore turbines for their power needs.

With companies also doing their bit such as Facebooks pledge to go 100%renewable by 2020 it seems that the ground swell is being driven despite the governments in place not because of them. In fact in many countries around the world who have made renewable commitments it’s estimated that the private sector will drive demand and help in reaching those targets in advance of many dates that have been set.

The knock on effect is also helping the jobs market. The US renewables sector is creating jobs twice as fast as any other in fact wind turbine technician jobs are set to double by 2026 and with an average salary of $50,000 it’s an attractive sector to be a part of.

As a pioneer of wind turbine safety training Safety Technology USA is positioning itself front and center to handle the demand for GWO accreditations, training and refreshers that will be required to keep the industry going.

Head over to the homepage and find out more about our world class training facilities and course.

Wind energy USA news roundup November

Veterans retraining in the Wind Energy sector

The US wind energy sector hires veterans at a rate of 72% higher than the national average because the skills, teamwork and dedication they learn when serving their country are perfect for the wind sector. STL has a long track record of training veterans for careers in wind energy. Through schemes such as ELCAS in the UK Saftey Technology are committed to helping veterans find fulfilling careers in the wind sector by equiping them with all the knowledge, skills and understanding to work safely onshore and off.

Head over to the AWEA site for some great stories on ex-servicemen working in wind energy, here.

Lazards levelized cost of energy good news for renewables

Each November we wait with bated breadth for Lazards levelized cost of energy analysis and once again it’s great news for renewables. Both the wind and solar industries are relentlessly driving down cost and improving technology performance, and the technologies are now in a better position to compete than ever before. In many US states wind in this cheapest source of new energy regardless of incentives. In many parts of the country wind is the cheapest energy source, of course it does require you to live somewhere with steady wind!

To read the report head here.

Vinyard wind project

Great news to see Danish-Japanese firm MHI Vestas named the preferred turbine supplier for the 800MW Vineyard Wind project off Massachusetts. We’re proud to have MHI Vestas as a client for our GWO training and the offshore project will rightly be one of the most advanced in the US. Faeturing 84 turbines the Vinyard farm is scheduled to go online in 2021 and will be one of the US’ earliest utility-scale offshore wind projects.

From Canada to New Mexico, STL USA’s Ben Williams cycles for cancer research charity

STL’s very own Ben Williams cycled from Canada to New Mexico raising funds for Cancer research a charity close to his heart.

When Ben Williams, Safety Technology USA’s training director and head of GWO training, walked into the office and said he wanted to take 6 weeks off work to go cycling he received a few quizzical looks from his colleagues. But, after he’d explained he was taking on Tour Divide Ultra-Cycling Challenge and that he was doing it in aid of vital cancer research, the company quickly mobilised efforts to help him on his way.

The Tour Divide Ultra-Cycling Challenge which is described as “the world’s longest and toughest off-pavement cycle route” climbs nearly 200,000 feet – the equivalent of summiting Mount Everest from sea-level seven times. Along the route Ben endured the off-road trails and passes of the Rocky Mountains, gruelling hill climbs, stretches of barren desert and extreme heat as well as the daily physical and mental challenges associated with ultra-mountain biking of this type. Solo and unsupported with just a tent, bike and GPS this complex route inhabited by locals such as grizzly bears and mountain lions, adding another dimension to the daily challenge. Undeterred Ben made the most of this fantastic opportunity.

“What made the whole thing so amazing was the people I met along the way. If it wasn’t for the American people and their kindness the challenge would have been a whole lot harder.”

Ben decided to take part when someone truly dear and amazing to him suffered pain and discomfort on a level he could not comprehend. As a tribute he wanted to put himself through pain and discomfort for about a month to raise funds to continue research and help prevent others from experiencing the same level of pain.

Lynne Eagles, Cancer Research UK’s local fundraising manager for Wales, said: “We are absolutely delighted that Ben has decided to attempt such an incredible and gruelling challenge to raise vital funds for Cancer Research UK.

“Ben had an amazing experience and we can’t thank him enough for his support. We want to wish him the very best for his journey. Cancer Research UK has made enormous progress in the fight against cancer. However, we have only been able to do this thanks to the dedication and commitment of our volunteers and supporters, without whom we would not be able to fund our research.”

Ben was invited to speak by Cancer research about his epic ride at a recent event.

For those who have felt inspired by Ben’s challenge, why not sign up to a cycling challenge of your own? Maybe start with something a little more easy to manage though!!

Launching our USA website

We’re delighted to be launching a website to serve our USA based clients.

4 world class traininglocations