We’re back in business

We’re back in business. Training at our core locations will begin again in June.

 

It’s awesome to be back in business. The truth is we never really went away as we’ve been able to continue supporting customers with GWO training at their sites via our onsite training services. But, getting back into our main training facilities will be a welcome change and we look forward to seeing techs on our courses.

As part of our reopening strategy we will be adhering to strict social distancing. This includes capping courses to no more than 6 attendees, ensuring desks are 6 feet apart in classrooms, wearing gloves and masks for practical exercises.

Suffice to say we take the safety measures seriously and will ensure that we have adequate supplies of PPE available at all times. Where special requirements are needed we will work with our customers to ensure, where possible, that these are implemented.

 

If you’d like to talk about how we can support your GWO training and you’d like more information get in touch.

 

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The state of wind energy in lockdown.

With many of us in wind energy in lockdown this weeks post speculates on where we’re heading.

 

So what is the state of wind energy in lockdown? So let’s get this out of the way the wind is still blowing, turbines are still turning and I have to say that most people I’m speaking with are continuing to operate, albeit under strict distancing guidelines. Of course a lot of us are classed as essential workers so we’ve had to adapt quickly to this situation. For STL USA in particular this has meant moving courses to an onsite format where we can but of course not every customer has access to a turbine or tower to conduct a training course.

On this note I’d like to give a major shout out to the guys at Cotech who’ve let us use their training facility in Houston whilst ours is shut.

The GWO have played their part by quickly developing a new partial online course for Basic Safety training refreshers. This course allows for 100% delivery online over the space of a few days via a virtual classroom format. The course is built around interaction and requires both instructors and technicians to demonstrate a series of actions within the curriculum as well as theory elements to gain the 6 month interim accreditation.

This is an exciting development for STL USA as we’ve been eagerly awaiting the launch of an online, blended course format to broaden our course offering across the USA. We’ve also spent some of our lockdown time accelerating our plans to bring the GWO ART course to the USA. This is something we’re particularly keen to have sit alongside our standard GWO safety training courses.

Our wider outlook for wind is still very positive despite the current lockdown. Wind energy is proving itself to be a cost effective source of energy generation and with numerous new developments in the pipeline including the major offshore farms we still believe well end 2020 in an upbeat mood.

The second half of the year will see us looking further afield from our traditional mid-West base in the “wind corridor”. The next stage of our growth will be focussed on the offshore market, our longer term goal is to begin delivering GWO Sea Survival from a strategically located training center by the end of 2020. This is about 4-6 months behind our initial plan but hey Covid-19 came along so we hope you’ll forgive us.

All that’s left for us to do is say a big thank you to all our people who have worked tirelessly during this difficult time, for our clients patience and to the wider wind community for hanging in there.

 

If you’d like to talk about how we can support you GWO training get in touch.

 

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Beat the GWO refresher backlog

You can beat the GWO refresher backlog with STL USA.

There’s a big GWO refresher backlog building right now. To tackle this we are building a roster of technicians who require GWO refresher training so we can manage course places and allocate these on the basis of those closest to their expiry dates.

 

Adding your technicians to the roster is very easy.

  1. Add you contact details
  2. Add your technicians and their certification expiry dates
  3. We will contact you to allocate a training place before certs lapse

 

You can join the roster here:

 

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March news round up

Welcome to the March news round up.

I promised myself i would write this news round up without mentioning the C-word, but I don’t think that’s going to be possible. Covid-19 has dominated March and looks set to have an impact on the wind sector for the next few months. We are lucky as a business to be able to continue, albeit on a reduced basis, training during this crisis. We’ve taken significant steps to mitigate risks for our trainers and course attendees during the outbreak. This has meant the closure of our training facilities and a move to 100% onsite training until we feel we it is 100% safe to reopen the centers.

March started so differently

At the very start of March we were packing up after attending the AWEA O&M conference in San Diego. It was a great conference, we met up with clients and connected with new potential clients across the week. The weather was great and we had a small opportunity to enjoy some of the Southern California coastline. What a difference 30 days make! We moved quickly to ensure we could react to our client needs but most importantly to ensure the safety of our people and our attendees.

Moving onsite

The big story of the last 30 days has been our transition to 100% GWO onsite training. We regularly run training courses for customers at their wind farms but we’ve never had to run 100% of our courses in this fashion. The safety advantages are obvious, less interaction between people and less travel for course attendees. As training centers have closed across the country demand has grown exponentially. A big thank you to all the STL USA team for stepping up as in many cases we’ve been the last resort for clients.

Looking ahead

One thing is for certain this outbreak won’t last forever. When we come out of the back of this there will be a number of challenges that we will have to cover. Firstly there’s going to be a major backlog of refresher training that will need to be completed, second it’s likely there will be a rush of new hires. These will likely have been postponed during the lockdown. It’s going to mean a lot of training is required in a short space of time. To tackle this we’re working with all our customers to create a schedule for refreshers starting in May, we’re committed to running these back to back for as long as required so nobody’s certs lapse. It’s important we do this as lapsed certs require the tech to complete a full training course, keeping them out of the field for a full 5 days. We are working on a way for you to log your techs and their expiry dates into a schedule so we can then provide you training options, more to follow…

 

Stay Safe Everyone.

 

In the meantime if you want to add technicians to our refresher schedule you can get in touch below.

 

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GWO training during the Covid-19 (coronavirus) outbreak

GWO training during the Covid-19 outbreak will be available as two options.

 

During the outbreak it’s vital that we continue to provide safety services to our clients in the renewable energy sector. STL USA are taking every step to ensure GWO safety training is conducted in a clean and secure environment that minimises the risk to our attendees and employees. We are continuing to offer two training options for wind technicians.

 

Update March 26th, 2020.

All training courses will be restricted to a maximum of 6 people, 5 trainees and 1 trainer.

 

Onsite training

STL USA are the only company accredited by the GWO to offer GWO onsite training in the USA. This means we can attend a customer site to perform the full GWO Basic Safety Training course. This requires the use of a turbine and a facility that can double as a classroom for a maximum of 10 people. Onsite training requires a ratio of 1 instructor to 4 technicians and during this time we are capping all courses at a max of 8 technicians plus 2 instructors. For a class of 4 the course will run as normal, for a class of 8 attendees will be split into 2 groups and the second group will run on a reverse schedule of the first to minimise contact.

We are able to service locations across North America however we will treat each enquiry on a case by case basis.

 

Training center

From March 31st our training centers are running a reduced timetable. Courses in Texas will start on April 20th and 27th for full GWO Basic Safety Training and in Iowa on April 27th. Courses may be cancelled or changed at short notice during this period we will endeavour to keep our customers informed of developments as we react to them in all cases.

 

Taking steps to stay safe

The safety of our customers and employees is always our primary concern. All steps in accordance with Federal Government and World Health Organisation guidelines have been implemented by STL USA. In addition modifications to GWO training courses have been applied which minimise the risks for everyone involved in a training course.

Anyone presenting with:

  • Flu like
  • Cough
  • Fever
  • Shortness of Breath

will not be allowed to join a training course and registration will be delayed until symptoms no longer exist and the person is medically passed fit to train.

In specific modules

  1. During First Aid and Enhanced First Aid (including refresher) modules for when practicing CPR on a resuscitation mannequin. Training staff will continue to demonstrate correct CPR, however course participants (delegates) shall not be required to perform mouth-to-mouth on a mannequin. However, delegates must still practice establishing an airway and verbally confirming delivery and the correct number of rescue breaths (without contact between course participants mouth and the mannequin’s mouth), and otherwise complete the exercise as described.
  2. During Working at Height initial and refresher training, all practical exercises will be performed using a rescue dummy as injured person (casualty), including the double evacuation and ladder rescues of a conscious person
  3. During Advanced Rescue Training (Initial and Refresher), when performing practical rescue exercises where the course participants (delegates) are required to work in teams, these exercises will be carried out as single rescuer, making sure to cover planning of rescue in teams and teams communication during rescue.

The whole team at STL USA encourage you to stay safe during this difficult time.

 

If you would like to discuss an onsite or training center course contact us.

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STL USA Corvid-19 (Coronavirus) Guidance

When running GWO training courses the safety of our employees and our guests is our top priority.

In the efforts to contain and prevent spreading of the 2019-Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) we need all visitors and potential course participants to adhere to the following precautions.

For those scheduled or planning to attend one of our training courses, we ask for all to ensure they are not experiencing any of the following symptoms:

  • Flu like
  • Cough
  • Fever
  • Shortness of Breath

If you experience any of the above symptoms, we ask you to delay registering or participating until symptoms no longer exist. For anyone currently registered for an upcoming course, if you experience symptoms, we ask that you please contact Safety Technology Ltd for cancellation or rescheduling to a future date.

Participants that show symptoms while attending a course, may be asked to seek medical attention before continuing the course.

STL USA will enforce the recommendations given by the health authority to limit spreading of the COVID-19, and restrict attendance to include anyone who has travelled to any of the affected countries which currently include:

Cambodia, China, Hong Kong, Iran, Italy, Japan, Laos, Macau, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Spain, Germany, France, Thailand and Vietnam

 

To prevent spreading in areas with risk of COVID-19, it is recommended to:

  • Wash your hands with soap and disinfect with alcohol-based hand rub regularly.
  • Maintain social distancing (1-1.5m) and avoid crowds.
  • Avoid touching eyes, nose, and mouth.
  • Practice food safety during preparation, cooking and eating.
  • Wear a mask (surgical/medical and formed so it covers the mouth and nose) when you may come close to persons sneezing/coughing, and to persons who may have a fever.
  • If you experience fever, coughing or breathing problems – seek medical care.

We apologise for any inconvenience and appreciate your attention to this matter.

 

Safety Technology USA LLC

 

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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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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