Author: STL USA team

Live from AWEA OMS2020

We’re live at AWEA OMS2020, come and see us at booth 314.

We made it to OMS2020 from London to San Diego! We’re super proud to be exhibiting at this year’s American Wind Energy Association O&M safety conference. This year we are showcasing some brand new equipment alongside our GWO training courses in Iowa, Texas and soon to be Kansas City. It’s been a great opportunity for us to meet with our partners, customers and make new friends in the wind community.

This years attendees from STL USA are Ben Williams and Ben Dickens. As we’ve been told having two Ben’s makes it easy to remember! This year our agenda is super focused on the labour challenges faced by the wind sector. Discussions we’re having at OMS2020 will enable us to develeop a raft of course programmes that address these issues directly. As a long standing GWO member it’s vitally important that we work together to manage these challenges in a safe and sustainable manner.

Come and say hi, Booth 314.

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What we’re discussing at AWEA O&M safety conference.

As we get closer to heading to San Diego for this year’s AWEA O&M safety conference we thought we highlight the key areas of focus for STL USA.

This year’s AWEA O&M safety conference will be a great opportunity to connect with our friends and colleagues across the industry, discuss the topics that really matter and work out how we can collectively solve these issues together. STL USA will be exhibiting on booth 314 come and find us.

For STL USA our focus this year is on a number of key areas including; developing offshore capability, launching Basic Technical Training and working with the labour supply chain to ease the bottleneck of trained technicians entering wind.

Offshore safety training, GWO Sea Survival.

With significant developments taking place on both the East and West coast, including the Ocean Wind site, demand for offshore technicians has never been higher. This puts huge pressure on the need for GWO Sea Survival courses, located within a sensible travelling distance of the fields. Currently the market is very thin. Offshore facilities have historically been centred around the Oil and Gas sector, located around the Gulf of Mexico but this needs to change given winds development on the East and West coast. To this end STL USA are actively seeking out sites to ensure we can meet this demand from the growing sector.

Developing Technical training, GWO Basic Technical Training

We believe that 2020 will see increasing importance placed on the need for technical training in the wind sector. As demand continues to grow for trained individuals only so much can be serviced from techs moving across sectors, in-house training and labour movement. We believe that 2020 will be the year where BTT becomes a key access point for people wanted to work in wind, whether high school or college leavers or those transitioning from unrelated areas. Ensuring a consistent flow of manpower is going to be crucial and we’re lucky that this is also recognised by our partners at Texas State Technical College.

How can we move people into wind energy faster?

Recent conversations with partners and clients have led us to explore the manpower problem from all angles in recent months. We clearly have an issue in the sector, there’s not enough technicians and not really enough places to train them. These are classic teething problems of a fast growing sector and something we’re keen to address. Ideas we’ve explored include a credit based system for experienced workers at height to gain credits on GWO course for existing qualifications, a transition path covering technical course modules and safety. We haven’t got a definitive answer to this question, what we do know is that we will need to come together as a sector to address this issue. New course formats and markeing criteria will need to be developed, tested and rolled out. AWEA O&M safety conference is a perfect place to do this, we look forward to speaking with you there.

AWEA O&M safety conference will be busy, the best way to ensure a conversation with STL USA is to book a meeting slot. Just click the link below.

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Why get the STL USA newsletter

Apart from the wit and imaginative writing there’s a bunch of reasons to get the STL USA newsletter!

So why should you get the STL USA newsletter? We’ll we bring you the lowdown on some of the best news in wind energy safety, the latest developments at STL USA and so much more.

Be the first to hear about course dates and availability

GWO training is becoming increasingly popular in the USA and with limited providers it pays to know when and where you can train. After all taking technicians out of the field costs money, STL USA strive to make the process simple and painless to minimise the impact to your bottom line, ensuring your workforce is fully qualified to the GWO Basic Safety training standard.

Get updates on offers and funding opportunities for training courses

We regular run promotions on our courses and make available funding via our regional and state partners. Funding goes fast, grab the newsletter to be kept up to date on opportunities. For example a client recently had 90% of their course fee’s paid via a state funding program in Texas. Can you afford not to benefit from this?

Sign-Up and Don’t Miss Out

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Looking ahead to AWEA O&M 2020

AWEA O&M 2020, join us at this year’s AWEA Wind Project O&M and Safety Conference in San Diego.

AWEA O&M 2020 takes place this year on the 26th and 27th of February in San Diego. STL USA will be there showcasing our latest GWO training services and taking place in a number of panels on training and safety systems.

There are now over 56, 000 wind turbines with a combined capacity of 100 gigawatts (GW) of wind energy in the ground and 22 GW expected offshore by 2030 across the United States.

But what’s the impact looking like for operations in the 2020s? Larger turbines, advances in storage and predictive maintenance are the types of technology trends that have the potential, if done right, to create more efficiencies and more reliable energy. A successful wind project requires more than top-notch technology; its most important asset are the people who maintain the projects.

Despite wind and solar technicians being the two fastest growing jobs in the country, the industry is struggling to meet the needs of a growing number of projects, many of which are coming off warranty. Owner operators are faced with the daunting task of meeting these needs on a tighter budget while continuing to keep the safety of their techs as the top priority.

How can the industry practically leverage technology like digitalization, crane-less work, and drones to ensure the safety of their workers? What efforts are underway to properly prepare and train workers? This year’s O&M and safety conference will focus on these important workforce issues for owner operators.

Safety Technology USA will be front and center on these discussions as we bring our global training experience to the fore. The USA is not alone in experiencing these challenges, more mature wind markets in Europe have worked through the same growing pains. With a history of training across Europe and beyond Safety Technology USA are well positioned to support owner operators through this period of fast growth.

Meet us at O&M, booth 314 in the Coronet Room.

Click below to arrange a meeting time.

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GWO Safety courses Q1 2020

GWO Safety courses Q1 2020 are coming thick and fast, we have a large program of dates across our Iowa and Texas locations.

GWO Safety courses Q1 2020 cover both the full GWO Basic Safety Training and the refresher course. Each consists of the four onshore modules; fire awareness, first aid, manual handling and working at height. For the working at height module we use a variety of evacuation devices in order to train technicians on equipment they will be using. Let us know when you book what you use day to day and we will ensure we tailor the course appropriately.

The full list of GWO training courses can be found below for both venues.

Sweetwater, Texas:

January 14^th to 16^th: GWO BST Refresher

January 21^st to 24^th: GWO BST

January 27th to 31st GWO BST

February 3rd to 7th GWO BST

February 10^th to 14^th: GWO BST

February 18^th to 20^th : GWO BST Refresher

February 25th to 27th GWO BST Refresher

March 23rd to 27^th: GWO BST

March 31st to April 4th GWO BST Refresher

Estherville, Iowa:

January 14^th to 16^th: GWO BST Refresher

February 10^th to 14^th: GWO BST

February 24^th to 28^th: GWO BST Refresher

March 9^th to 13^th: GWO BST

March 23^rd to 25^th: GWO BST Refresher

April 13th to 17th GWO BST

Booking a course is simple and easy. Once you’ve picked a location and date we simple send you the joining instructions and sign-up form for you to fill in and return. When we have this your place is secure and then confirmed on payment of the course fees. Our friendly team are here to help, get in touch below.

Happy Holidays! Looking back on 2019

Happy Holidays to everyone we’ve worked with and met through 2019.

2019 has been a hectic year so we thought we’d run through some of the highlights and take a sneak peak at what’s in store for 2020.

Major highlights in 2019 have included.

Opening a new GWO training facility in Kansas City

Mid way through 2019 we brought on a new facility in Kansas City to deliver GWo working at height. This forms part of our coninued expansion of facilities to service customers throughout the major wind centers of the USA.

Passing the 500 technicians trained mark for the first year in the USA

Whilst our parent company Safety Technology has been training technicians since GWO started we have only been operating in the USA for a few short years. This years was our first to pass 500 technicians trained across our facilities in Iowa, Texas, Kansas City and onsite.

Gaining full onsite certification a USA first

We were extremely proud to have been awarded the onsite certification from GWO in the USA this year. We are now the first and only officially accredited training provider in North America to be able to offer onsite GWO training. For STL USA this was an imperative in 2019 and we look to service clients top to bottom and east to west across the country. The sheer size of the USA presents certain logistical challenges for both us and HSE managers and feedback had indicated that an onsite service was in high demand. So far this year our trainers have travelled from the Pacific North west to the East coast and covered virtually every inch of Texas!

Expanding our team with amazing new hires

Ben Dickens has joined the STL USa team to head up the Sales & Marketing operation and oversee the companies growth. Ben’s got a clear remit to make STL USA the number one training provider in North America. Brandon McKelvain joins us as a new GWO trainer based out of Sweetwater, Texas. Brandon has a host of working at height experience and joins our roster of USA and international trainers delivering courses across the country and world.

Attending O&M Safety exhibition in San Diego

Our biggest exhibition of the year took place in San Diego at the AWEA O&M Safety conference. The event brought both US based companies and international businesses together to talk safety, safety innovations and meet collegaues with an interest and remit for technician safety. It was a great opportunity to meet up with our existing customers and build new relationships throughout the industry. We will be attending again in 2020, come and say high.

Looking ahead to 2020

2020 looks set to be the year of offshore, it’s a key area of focus for STL USA. Expect to hear more about developments in offshore training in the first half of the year.

The STL USA team will continue to grow into 2020 as we recruit more trainers to cover the demand for courses across our facilities.

STL prides itself on its ability to form strong strategic partnerships. Expect to see announcements as we work through the supply chain.

Wind will continue to grow fast in the USA. Given the economics now in play the development of wind energy facilities in only set to increase.

For more information on STL USA training get in touch here:

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New Year, New Year GWO courses.

New Year GWO courses will be coming along soon. The program starts mid-January in Iowa and Texas.

Next year’s New Year GWO courses start on January 14th in both Iowa and Texas. Both course are GWO Basic Safety Training Refreshers running over three days and starting the week on a Tuesday.

From this point the course schedule take in a full GWO BAsic Safety Training in Texas and then runs through February, March and the rest of the first half of the year with a minimum of 1 full course and 1 refresher per month at each site.

Whether you need to refresh your certificates or take the course for the first time you will study the following modules:

Fire Awareness
First Aid
Manual Handling
Working at Height

Courses generally start 8:00am daily at both of our training centers. Each has center has some of the best training facilities in the USA with simulated nacelles, climbing structures and classroom facilities.

The full program is:

Sweetwater, Texas:

January 14^th to 16^th: GWO BST Refresher

January 21^st to 24^th: GWO BST

January 27-31^st GWO BST

February 10^th to 14^th: GWO BST

February 18^th to 20^th : GWO BST Refresher

March 9^th to 13^th: GWO BST

March 16^th to 20^th: GWO BST

Estherville, Iowa:

January 14^th to 16^th: GWO BST Refresher

February 10^th to 14^th: GWO BST

February 24^th to 28^th: GWO BST Refresher

March 9^th to 13^th: GWO BST

March 23^rd to 25^th: GWO BST Refresher

To book a course and for more information click below.

GWO First Aid Course

The GWO First Aid course covers the key aspects of first aid in a rescue or injury scenario. The First aid course teaches trainees how to manage a first aid situation and apply first aid in the correct manner.

The GWO First Aid course forms a core component of GWO Basic Safety Training. Alongside Fire Awareness, Manual Handling and Working at Height most technicians choose to take the four core onshore modules in one chunk. The course comprises two days of GWO First Aid, two days of GWO Working at Height and then a half day each for Fire Awareness and Manual Handling.

Alongside the Working at Height First Aid is a vital component of the GWO Basic Safety Training course.

Once completed technicians will be able to demonstrate an understanding of:

the importance of carrying out first aid in a safe manner in accordance with the legislative requirements of their geographic location and according to ERC and AHA guidelines.
to identify and explain normal function, normal signs and symptoms of serious and minor injuries and illness related to the human body.
the correct order of management in an emergency in a WTG environment.
correct use of lifesaving First Aid using the Primary Survey A–B–C
correct use of an Automatic External Defibrillator (AED)
correct use of Ordinary First Aid, the Secondary survey
correct use of First Aid equipment in a First Aid scenario

Safety Technology USA emphasise the GWO First Aid element as a vital tool for technicians who encounter a rescue, injury or first aid scenario. We don’t underestimate the dangers that technicians face and as with all GWO memeber organisations and training providers safety is the beginning, middle and end of everything we do.

If you’d like to find out more about the GWO First Aid course as part of the wider GWO Basic Safety Training please get in touch via the link at the bottom of this blog.

Whilst most techs take first aid as part of the full course it can also be delivered as a stand alone module over 2 days for new trainees and 1 day for refreshers. STL USA are fully accredited to deliver GWO courses onsite as well as from our facilities in Texas and Iowa.

Get in touch with us now to discuss your requirements and book a course.

GWO Basic Safety training in Iowa and Texas Latest Dates

GWO Basic Safety training in Iowa and Texas last minute availability.

Demand for GWO Basic Safety Training in Iowa and Texas has been unprecedented so we have scheduled two additional courses in December and January.

Texas course availability

Starting Tuesday December 3rd and Tuesday December 10th we have two weeks of GWO Basic Safety Training Refresher courses at our GWO training center Texas covering the four core Basic Safety Training modules.

Starting Monday December 16th 2019 at Texas State Technical College will be a full GWO Basic Safety Training course including all onshore modules. The course will cover;First Aid, Fire Awareness, Manual Handling and Working at Height. Running over 5 days the course will be led by STL USA’s highly experienced instructors.

12/3/19 GWO Basic Safety Training Refresher

12//10/19 GWO Basic Safety Training Refresher

Full course details:

GWO Basic Safety Training Refresher

Duration:

3 days starting December 10th 2019

Modules:

Fire Awareness
First Aid
Manual Handling
Working at Height

Training location:

Texas State Technical College, Sweetwater, Texas,

Places available

4 places currently available

GWO Basic Safety Training

Duration:

5 days starting December 16th 2019

Modules:

Fire Awareness
First Aid
Manual Handling
Working at Height

Training location:

Texas State Technical College, Sweetwater, Texas,

Places available

4 places currently available

GWO Basic Safety Training Refresher

Duration:

3 days starting January 14th 2020

Modules:

Fire Awareness
First Aid
Manual Handling
Working at Height

Training location:

Texas State Technical College, Sweetwater, Texas,

Places available

4 places currently available

GWO Basic Safety Training

Duration:

4 days starting January 21st 2020

Modules:

Fire Awareness
First Aid
Manual Handling
Working at Height

Training location:

Texas State Technical College, Sweetwater, Texas,

Places available

6 places currently available

GWO Basic Safety Training

Duration:

5 days starting February 10th 2020

Modules:

Fire Awareness
First Aid
Manual Handling
Working at Height

Training location:

Texas State Technical College, Sweetwater, Texas,

Places available

7 places currently available

Iowa course availability

The fourth course coming up will be scheduled in Iowa at Iowa Lakes Community College. Starting on Tuesday January 14th 2020 this will be a full GWO Basic Safety Training refresher course for any technicians that need to renew their accreditations. The course will cover all the onshore modules; First Aid, Fire Awareness, Manual Handling and Working at Height. Running over 3 days.

Full course details

GWO Basic Safety Training Refresher

Duration:

3 days starting January 14th 2020

Modules:

Fire Awareness
First Aid
Manual Handling
Working at Height

Training location:

Iowa Lakes Community College, Estherville, Iowa.

Places available

4 places currently available

GWO Basic Safety Training

Duration:

5 days starting February 10th 2020

Modules:

Fire Awareness
First Aid
Manual Handling
Working at Height

Training location:

Iowa Lakes Community College, Estherville, Iowa.

Places available

6 places currently available

STL USA’s GWO Basic Safety training in Iowa and Texas offers best in class GWO training. STL USA”s trainers are widely considered some of the most competent and experienced operating in the USA. STL USA’s years of global experience delivering GWO training ensures trainees leave every course 100% confident in what they have learnt.

Get in touch with us now to discuss your requirements and book a course.

Veterans finding fulfilling careers in wind energy.

Safety Technology has a long history of transitioning veterans into the wind industry through training courses.

Safety Technology are proud to have been at the forefront of training veterans for new careers in the wind energy industry. Starting as the first working at height provider to offer ELCAS (UK Ministry of Defence) approved training courses helping ex-service men retrain and transition to the civilian workforce. STL have continued to prioritise veterans onto courses, particularly GWO training.

UK based initiatives provide funding for veterans and we are delighted to announce we are bringing this scheme to Safety Technology USA. Details will be released over the coming months but the basics will mean veterans can apply for assisted places on a GWO training course.

As a dynamic industry, wind energy calls upon talented individuals with a wide range of skills. Veterans bring value and experience to the wind energy industry workforce as the skills learnt serving their country are perfect to transition to the demanding careers in wind. These skills include; a strong work ethic, functioning well as part of a team, existing training using machinery and working at height, being used to the outdoors in all weathers and the ability to not loose focus on their goals and get the job done.

These attributes are perfectly aligned to the demands of life in the field working on wind turbines and in logistical roles.

For more information on GWO courses and transitioning into the wind sector click below.