March 16, 2020

GWO appoints Vestas' Paul Robbins as Chair

• Vestas’ Paul Robbins elected Chairman until 2022 • Executive Committee (ExCo) elected with mandate to establish GWO trained workforce beyond 200,000 people

Monday 16 March 2020 – Global Wind Organisation has renewed its ambition to bring standardized safety training to a growing wind workforce under the leadership of its new Chair and Executive Committee.

Vestas Chief Specialist and Global Subject Matter Expert for Health and Safety, Paul Robbins, has been elected Chair of GWO. Paul will serve for two years and will be supported by Vice Chairs Karin Borg (Head of Corporate HSE, Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy) and Jill Lees, Director of HSE and Sustainability, RWE Renewables.

Paul has been vice chair since 2018 and he takes over from Eloy Jauregui, Safety Director at Acciona Energía who stepped down following completion of his two-year term.

A respected figure in the wind energy sector, Paul began his career in 1981 as a communications engineer and climber with the Royal Air Force, going on to become a trade trainer and course designer for Working at Heights, Engineering and Safety. A dedicated Health and Safety professional he has worked in the Wind Energy Industry since 2007 and has been instrumental in the development of Global Wind Organisation.

“GWO has become the world’s most influential body in the field of wind energy health and safety,” says Paul. “Representing the largest employers in wind energy – both OEMs and owner operators - our strategy is to create safety without borders, so minimum standards for safety and technical training can be available anywhere in the world, driving down the risk of injury and improving our industry’s performance and, efficiency and productivity through reduced duplication.

“I am proud to step into the role of chair and look forward to building on the fine work that Eloy Jauregui has done. During his tenure, the GWO-trained workforce has more than doubled in size to approximately 90,000 people. Over the next two years, we see the opportunity for greater safety as paramount. If we can bring GWO standards to new markets, especially emerging markets and nascent offshore wind regions, we can help make this industry injury free.”

Jakob Lau-Holst, Chief Executive Officer of GWO added: “I am delighted to welcome Paul as GWO’s new chairman and congratulate all our elected members, not least Jill Lees of RWE and Karin Borg of SGRE who support Paul’s leadership. The industry is well represented at GWO – seven of the world’s ten largest OEMs and five of the world’s ten largest owner operators sit round our table at the GWO General Assembly. We hope to add more representation very soon as we embark on the next stage of this organisation’s history.”

Editors’ Notes

GWO is a non-profit organisation of wind turbine owners and wind turbine manufacturers, committed to the creation and adoption of standardized safety training and emergency procedures. Independent training providers deliver GWO-certified training to delegates worldwide. See our interactive map of training providers. Training records are uploaded and stored in the GWO WINDA database, allowing members to verify training records quickly and easily, helping employers avoid unnecessary spending on re-training.

Strategy: Safety Without Borders

Safety Without Borders was launched in 2020 and targets the growth of the GWO-trained workforce beyond 200,000 people by the end of 2022. Click here for more information.

GWO Facts and figures

In 2019, 354 GWO-certified training providers trained 197,281 (+28%) courses covering nine training standards and 24 individual modules. The GWO trained workforce rose almost 20% year on year to 89,183 by 31.12.2019.