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Health and safety: Why the new G+ lifesaving rules for offshore wind are so important
23/10/2024
10 min read
Feature
Offshore wind safety organisation G+ has published 10 fundamental safety rules for those building and working on offshore wind energy. G+Technical Manager Mariana Carvalho explains the rationale behind the rules and why they are needed.
Q: There are lifesaving rules in lots of industries now, including rail and grid operators. Why do you think they are important? Isn’t this a matter of common sense, or a case of overreach by health and safety authorities?
A: The purpose of the rules is as a communication tool to highlight the actions and measures against a fatal, or nearly fatal, outcome if something was to go wrong on any given day. The rules are very focused, and there are many safety measures to prevent any harm at all.
Q: Is it because there is a competitive marketplace for information, in safety?
A: We rely on our workers to adjust every single moment of their working day to dynamic conditions, often while doing very physically and cognitively demanding tasks. The more we can simplify so that their attention is on the most critical things to ensure they stay safe, then the better. That is the heart of what our lifesaving rules are attempting to do.
Q: What’s the benefit of focusing on life risks, when less severe injuries/incidents are likely to be far more common?
A: The impact of fatalities and the most serious injuries is lifelong for the person affected and those around them. While no safety professional wants to see any harm, we would all say these are the incidents we must absolutely prevent. As the global body for health and safety of offshore wind, G+ collects data from our members. This gives us a greater collective ability to study the most serious incidents, which might not be present in the data of any individual company. That’s the value we bring. Therefore, to my mind, it’s our duty to focus on these incidents.