Health and safety expertise harnessed for burgeoning US market
02/12/2020
Against a backdrop of worldwide expansion in the offshore wind sector, the G+ Global Offshore Wind Health and Safety Organisation (G+), based at the Energy Institute, has this week announced the formation of a new group for the United States.
The G+ US Focal Group brings together major wind operators and manufacturers to share learnings and uphold industry safety standards. Adapting to the unique characteristics of the US market, the group plans to establish industry-wide health and safety procedures in this flourishing region for offshore wind.
Dave LaBelle, Chair of the US Focal Group and Vice President of Environmental, Health and Safety at AVANGRID, a leading offshore wind developer, commented:
“This is an exciting time for the offshore wind industry in North America, and I’m proud to lead this new group of industry partners to power a safety culture based on learning and improving, focusing on collecting and sharing incident data across the industry, development of good practice guidelines, and focused workshops targeting key risks.
“As offshore wind capacity grows, the sector continues to work diligently to ensure safe working practices. There is a real opportunity to develop strong partnerships with industry stakeholders and to leverage common best practice internationally, a core objective of the US Focal Group.”
Tove Lunde, G+ Chair and Head of Safety, Security and Sustainability - New Energy Solutions, Equinor added:
“The US offshore wind sector is set to take off in the next few years. Building on G+’s established reputation, lessons learnt from the past 30 plus years developing offshore wind capabilities can be applied in this important region.
“As we decarbonise our energy system, offshore wind will become an ever more crucial component. Each turbine blade rotation brings us a little closer to meeting net zero, but more must be done in a safe, sustainable manner.”
The first meeting of the new group took place on Tuesday 8 December. The US Focal Group comprises of G+ members AVANGRID, EDF Renewables, Equinor, Ørsted, RWE and Siemens Gamesa, as well as G+ Associates Shell and GE.
Setup in partnership with the Energy Institute, G+ works to tackle health and safety issues in the industry through four main work programmes: incident data reporting, good practice guidelines, safe by design and learning from incidents. The new collaborative work in the US market builds on G+ activities already under way across Europe and Asia.
For further information about the US Focal Group, please contact gplus@energyinst.org
Notes for editors
- For media enquiries contact Neil Michie on 020 7467 7132 or nmichie@energyinst.org
- G+ is the global health and safety organisation for the offshore wind industry. The Energy Institute provides the secretariat and supports the ongoing work of the G+.
We bring together business leaders, health and safety experts and organisations operating in the offshore wind industry to drive good practice and promote world-class safety performance across the sector.
Through an evidence based approach, we ensure key emerging risks are mitigated through co-operation and shared learnings, aiming for the highest levels of health and safety standards being pursued throughout the life cycle of offshore wind farms.
We engage on important industry matters by facilitating discussion and bringing together industry stakeholders to speak with one voice for the offshore wind industry.