Category: STL USA news

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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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.

Welcome to our new VP Sales & Marketing Ben Dickens

Welcome to our new VP Sales & Marketing Ben Dickens.

As STL USA continues to grow and develop as the USA’s premier provider of GWO accredited training courses we welcome our new VP Sales & Marketing to the company. Ben Dickens has a long career history in enterprise sales and marketing. Working for and with some of the largest global companies. Latterly Ben has worked with a number of fast growing scale-up businesses with responsibility for customers and growth.

Ben’s remit at STL is to continue driving our business in the North America. This will include opening new training centers, developing our core business offer and working closely with our customers big and small to ensure they continue to receive best in market training solutions.

“I’m excited to be joining STL USA at a pivotal pint in their growth. Wind energy in the USA is booming, coupled to the fast pace of adoption of GWO standards in all areas of the sector. These factors combined with STL’s market leading offer put us in prime position to be the trainer of choice across the USA. My job is to ensure that happens and that we continue to deliver a service that sets us apart from our competitors.”

Ben Dickens VP Sales & Marketing

Ben joins us at a time when we are actively opening new training facilities, have recently launched our onsite offer and are cementing our position in the USA market as the leading provider of GWO training.

“We are very pleased that Ben has joined us at this crucial time in STL USA’s growth. He brings a wealth of experience and modern know how to the sales and marketing process however it is his proven ability to build lasting relationships that should see him make a success of this role and in turn successful establish an exciting future for STL USA.”

Bob Dickens, Global Chairman Safety Technology

Please contact us for more information, press enquiries, quotes and images.

New Kansas City GWO training venue

STL USA are pleased to announce the addition of a new Kansas City GWO training venue.

The new Kansas City GWO training center will initially offer GWO Working at Height training.

Technicians taking the GWO Working at Height course will be able to demonstrate:

knowledge of hazards and risks associated with working at heights, specific to a WTG
understanding of current national legislation regarding working at heights.
correct identification of PPE, including identification of European/Global standard markings e.g. harness, hard hat, lanyards, etc.
the knowledge and skills to correctly inspect, service, store and don the relevant PPE, e.g. harness, lanyards, fall arresters and work positioning equipment.
correct use of the relevant PPE, e.g. harnesses lanyards, fall arresters and work positioning equipment. This includes correct identification of anchor points and correct ladder conduct.
correct use of evacuation devices.
how to approach rescue situations in WTGs and use rescue equipment efficiently.

We are now taking bookings for the center, follow the link below to find out more.

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Introducing onsite GWO training

We’re pleased to announce STL USA as the first GWO training provider to offer onsite training services in the USA.

Onsite training allows us to increase the flexibility of STL USA’s GWO training solutions. The solution is very simple, STL can now certify a client site for training purposes and then train technicians directly on the equipment they maintain.

The USA is a big country and whilst it has some of the best training facilities in the world it can be logistically challenging to send technicians across country for training, especially when it takes them away from their vital work. Onsite is therefore the perfect training option for smaller teams and technicians working in areas a long way from training centres. Subject to an initial risk assesment and certification which can happen a few days before or on the day training starts if we don’t encounter any surprises, both first time trainees on GWO and technicians refreshing their accreditations can be trained.

The ability to train directly on the equipment used everyday provides trainees with an an “in-country” knowledge of safety applications tailored to their specific environment. However as with all our GWO training courses this doesn’t mean they are only accredited to work on their own turbines the accreditation is universal.

Running an onsite course couldn’t be easier:

STL trainers come to your site
STL completes a full risk assessment with the customer to ensure candidate and trainer safety to complete the works on site and ensuring GWO standards are met.
STL issues the relevant accreditation certificates subject to successfully passing the course

Courses last the same amount of time as those run at STL’s training centers with the following Basic Safety Training modules on offer:

Working at Height
Fire Awareness
Manual Handling
First Aid onsite

If you’d like to talk to us about how we can “come to you” to run GWO training get in touch via the link below:

Updates to GWO training standards

GWO training standards are regularly updated. The most recent took place on July 1st this year. We explore what this means for technicians seeking accreditation and those renewing.

GWO standards are continually improving ensuring that all modules are at the cutting edge of safety and process. With a recent update taking place on the 1st of July this year we thought it was a great opportunity to explore what this means from a trainer and technician perspective and how this might affect your GWO training and accreditations.

What’s changed?

GWO training standards are frequently updated. Both BST and BTT have recently been updated, moving from version 11 and version 4 respectively to 12 and 5. Training providers, that’s us, can continue to use the old standard for a 3 month grace period, which ended on July the 1st this year, at which point delivery needs to move to the new version.

How does this affect technicians?

It’s important to know whether your training provider is delivering the correct standard. Outside of the grace period accreditations to obsolete standards with be considered non-compliant and this affects your ability to work at GWO accredited locations. As the grace, or handover, period has now finished all courses should be delivered to BST v12 or BTT v5.

Is STL compliant?

In a word, yes. It’s of paramount importance to STL USA that we are delivering training to the correct training standard and are completely compliant with the GWO in respect of this.

When is the next round of updates?

GWO regularly review and update the training standards with the next round scheduled for the second half of 2020 and first half of 2021. We’ll ensure to keep you informed of developments via the website and social media.

Should I worry about compliance?

As we’ve mentioned it’s important to verify if you’re trainer is delivering the correct version of the BST or BTT. You can be assured that this is the case with STL USA courses but we can’t speak for other providers. If in doubt or if you have questions please reach out to us and we can hopefully help.

Book a GWO training course

American Wind Week

This week is American Wind Week, an opportunity to celebrate wind energy and demonstrate how wind energy works for all Americans.

The AWEA (American Wind Energy Association) hosted the inaugural “American Wind Week” in 2017 in celebration of wind power emerging as America’s No. 1 source of renewable energy. This quickly became an annual event where wind companies and supporters host a wide variety of events around the country to show how wind works for all Americans.

Each year in August, elected officials will visit wind farms and factories across the country to show their support. It’s an initiative that STL USA is 100% behind without a wind industry we wouldn’t have anyone to provide GWO training to!

Some of the great stories from American Wind Week

New York celebrates Wind Week

New jobs encourage young New Mexicans to stay in the state

There’s a ton of news over on the AWEA’s news feed just follow the link here.

The key themes of American Wind Week 2019

Each day through wind week we’ve been focusing on a different aspect of wind energy. We’ve covered wind’s contribution to rural communities, job creation, jobs for ex service men and woman and the reduction in carbon emissions. Head over to our social to see more.

Wind week is a brilliant initiative by the AWEA and we hope to be a part of it for years to come.

2019 Wind Energy review, so far..

2019 has already been a huge year for wind energy so we thought we’d look back on some of the big developments so far and those still to come.

2019 has gone so quickly, with so many major developments taking place it feels like we’ve had a full year already and it’s only July! This week’s blog looks at the major sector developments and looks ahead to what’s to come in the sector for the rest of the year. As a GWO trainer we’re well placed to see what is really happening in the sector from an infrastructure and employment perspective and one thing is for certain that wind energy continues to grow, fast.

2019 a year for firsts

Wind energy generated more electricity than coal for the first time this year. April saw wind surpass coal for the first time ever and indications suggest that this will only accelerate the decline in the coal industry. As it becomes ever cheaper to generate power via renewables less profitable fossil fuels are surely on the way out. Much of this demand has been driven by states, cities and corporations commiting to clean energy despite the national backdrop.

New projects show no sign of slowing

Big wind farm news has been coming through at regular intervals. So far this year we have seen the Vinyard offshore farm, Ocean wind off the coast of Atlantic City and two major projects off the Long Island coast announced. This comes against a backdrop of numerous new onshore farms being awarded contracts. The sector is moving fast as the USA catches up with the rest of the world.

Corporates and cities leading the way

Major cities like Dallas and Chicago have made bold commitments to renewable energy. In both cases they have set targets to use 100% clean energy. Despite a national backdrop at odds with renewable energy these are just two examples of cities, states and municipalities taking action into their own hands where energy is concerned.

Corporates are also doing their bit. There is a clear drive towards clean energy as corporates look to secure their energy needs now and in the future. Well known organisations like Facebook have made a clear commitment to wind energy creating hundreds of jobs in the process with other well know organisations following such as AT&T and Google. These companies have set impressive targets and on the face of it it’s great PR but there’s more to it than that. These companies know that renewable costs are steadily reducing vs. increasingly expensive fossil fules. They also know companies who take an active role in managing their energy efficiency perform better over the long term.

STL USA’s year so far

It’s been a super busy year so far at STL USA. 2019 is on course to be a record year for students trained and accredited with GWO qualifications. We’ve attended some great industry events particularly AWEA’s conference in San Diego and we hope to make more friends in the industry over the next months and years.

What’s in store at STL USA

The rest of 2019 is about cementing STL USA’s place as the leading provider of GWO training solutions in the USA. We’re actively recruiting for new trainers and we hope to have secured an additional world class training facility by year end.

STL USA are taking course bookings for August & September GWO training, click below to find out more

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We’re hiring! Want to become a GWO trainer?

Want to become a GWO trainer? We have a great opportunity to join the USA’s fastest growing industry, wind energy.

STL USA are recruiting for new GWO trainers as demand for GWO training courses increases. the wind energy sector in the USA is one of the fastest growing markets with double digit job creation happening yearly. Growth is being driven by cities, states and corporations committing to clean energy, fuelling the boom we are at the center of. There’s no better time to become a GWO trainer.

GWO, Global Wind Organisation, is the industry body responsible for setting common safety standards for technicians in the wind energy sector. Created by its members the GWO have two main safety standards which STL train. The Basic Safety Standard and Basic Technical Standard. Course content covers all aspects of safety for onshore and offshore turbines as well as regular refreshers.

STL deliver training from two main hubs, Texas and Iowa. The facilities at each are world class with extensive climbing systems and turbine mock-ups to practice training.

As a course instructor, you will be delivering GWO and other courses to wind energy technicians at Safety Technology USA’s main training locations in Texas and Iowa as well as remotely onsite with clients.

Friendly and outgoing you will lead training courses of small groups of students. Instructing them on the key safety elements required for them to gain GWO accreditation.

Working with the course delivery teams in the USA and at our UK head office you will deliver training courses to the latest standards.

The following qualifications would be desirable

SPRAT or IRATA Level 2
OSHA 10 / OSHA 30
NFPA Fire Fighter Qual
Ergonomics/Material Handling Certified

As would previous teaching experience (military, safety training, climbing or mountaineering). Strong Verbal and written communication skills and proficiency with Microsoft Powerpoint, Excel, Word, Outlook

It’s really important that you can travel as this role requires lots within the USA.

Please forward a full CV along with availability to interview/ start and salary expectations for immediate feedback and a confidential chat.

info@safetytechnologyusa.com

Texas the Wind Energy state.

When you think of energy wind isn’t the first source that springs to mind when you say Texas. But given Texas’ is the leading state in wind energy so we thought we’d explore in more detail.

Texas produces the most wind power of any US state, it’s also home to one of our premier GWO training centers. In 2017, 16% of electricity generated was from wind. Texas has over 40 projects the largest of which is the Roscoe wind farm others include the Hollow Wind Energy Center, Sherbino WInd Farm and the Capricorn Ridge Wind Farm.

Texas is well positioned for a thriving wind sector, west and southern areas benefit from strong predictable winds especially during the day when consumption is at its highest. This is heavily reflected in the jobs market. Wind energy is one of the fastest growing sectors in the USA and a large percentage of those jobs are in Texas. In fact Texas has become somewhat of a mecca for people looking for the steady paycheck that wind energy can provide. There are an estimate 230,000+ jobs in clean energy as a sector (solar, wind, energy efficiency) and an estimated 10,000+ jobs were created in 2018 alone.

Put into context if Texas were a country it would be the sixth largest wind energy producer in the world, the bulk of which is generated in Nolan county. At peak output wind energy has contributed as much as 50% of the states power needs although this normally sits around the 15% mark. It’s these kind of figures that show just what an important role Texas has to play.

It’s not just the turbines themselves that have contributed to job creation it’s the supply chain businesses that are cropping up as part of the wider ecosystem that will continue the growth. From blade manufacturers and components manufacturers through to companies recycling older parts and turning them into building panels the entire sector is awash with opportunity.

Texas’ position as the nation’s wind energy jobs leader is also driving changes in education with many technical and four-year colleges now offering degrees and certificates related to the wind industry. These include turbine service technicians, wind energy project managers, engineers and operations managers. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Texas employs 1,440 wind turbine service technicians, with the average technician making approximately $53,650 annually.

It’s also good news for consumers who enjoy lower costs with the growth of this energy industry with residential power rates approximately 10 percent lower than the national average and industrial power rates approximately 20 percent lower than the national average.

As the leading state for wind energy Texas is the perfect place for our GWO training facility. Located in Sweetwater the center is a modern, state of the art training facility. For more information and to book a training course click the link below:

Linking to Texas training centres, focussing on Texas as the leading state for wind energy in the USA.