With the UK’s Offshore Wind Industry set to play a central role in the United Kingdom’s net zero ambitions, the ECITB has worked with major offshore wind developers and supply chain companies to create a suite of training standards that support statutory inspection and maintenance of equipment.
Developed collaboratively with Stowen, Scottish Power Renewables, Equinor, Vattenfalland SSE, as well as Worley, Petrofac, Fieldcore, Applus and Safeworx, a pilot course was delivered by private training provider HEXIS Ltd completed in late 2021 and the standards are ready for ECITB Approved Training Providers to develop courses.
A target to quadruple offshore wind generating capacity to 40 GW by 2030 including 1 GW of floating offshore wind has been set by the UK Government. Such ambition could support up to 27,000 jobs directly in offshore wind and at least 60,000 in the wider supply chain. Similar targets have been set by many other countries’ governments with over a 1,000 onshore and offshore projects in current operation and a further 900 in their planning phase; APAC and South and Central America championing their Wind Industries in particular.
About the new ECITB wind turbine maintenance and inspection standards
The wind turbine maintenance and inspection standards have been developed for those responsible for wind turbine maintenance and inspection of statutory equipment.
Learners completing the training will acquire the skills needed to safely enter, access, egress and perform maintenance duties associated with the following equipment:
In service lift
Compact & davit cranes
Inspection of working at height systems
First aid boxes
The Training Standards cover:
TS WT 01-01: Wind core module
TS WT 01-02: Wind turbine service lift maintenance and statutory inspection
TS WT01-03: Compact and davit
TS WT 01-04: Inspection of working at height systems and equipment
The wind core training standard provides a robust technical knowledge of statutory equipment utilised in a wind turbine and as such is suitable for new entrants to the wind industry.
The wind turbine service lift maintenance and inspection and compact and davit crane standards comply with the ECITB’s four stage approach to training for competence:
Stage 1
First, training begins with initial off-the-job training at an ECITB-approved centre.
Stage 2
Next, a guided logbook recording on-the-job completion of relevant tasks is completed.
Stage 3
Then, an assessment takes place via an ECITB Technical Test to validate competence.
Stage 4
Finally, technical competence tests are taken every 3 years to reassess competence.
