The GWO portfolio is composed of 11 training standards. Most consist of different modules which correspond to the 30 courses provided by the GWO training providers around the world. In 2021, several training standards were reviewed to align to updated risk assessments: Basic Safety Training Standard, Basic Technical Training Standard, Slinger Signaller/Rigger Signal Person Training Standard, Blade Repair Training Standard, Advanced Rescue Training Standard. Finally, in April, the Lift User Training Standard was published for the first time.
The Basic Safety Training Standard (BST) was formally introduced in February 2012. The BST is composed of different modules which respect the different training records issued by training providers to the course participants: First Aid (FA), Fire Awareness (FAW), Manual Handling (MH), Working At Heights (WAH) and Sea Survival (SS). Each record is valid for two years, with a refresher then required as described by the Basic Safety Training Refresher Standard (BSTR). The modules of the BSTR reflects the BST ones: First Aid Refresher (FAR), Fire Awareness Refresher (FAWR), Manual Handling Refresher (MHR), Working At Heights Refresher (WAHR) and Sea Survival Refresher (SSR). Just like the BST records, the BSTR records shall be refreshed every two years to stay current.
In April 2020 the Basic Safety Training Online Partial Refresher Standard (BSTR-P) was introduced as a mitigation measure to the GWO community to adapt to the travel and health difficulties imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic. Once again, the modules of the training standard reflect the ones from the original BST: First Aid Refresher Partial (FAR-P), Fire Awareness Refresher Partial (FAWR-P), Manual Handling Refresher Partial (MHR-P), Working At Heights Refresher Partial (WAHR-P) and Sea Survival Refresher Partial (SSR-P). Differently from the BST and BSTR modules, the BSTR-P records are partial in nature, expire after six months, and must be refreshed by a full BSTR to retain validity. To read further into the details of the training standards and their durations, please click here. Overall, the BSTR-P records were the ones least used in 2021, which is an encouraging sign of an industry recuperating on its way out of the pandemic.
In 2021, the BST training records completed (including refresher and partial refresher) were 261,083 corresponding to 82% of the total GWO records of the year. Compared to 2020, +35% of BST training records were completed in 2021, in particular: FFA+FAR grew 34%, FAW+FAWR 36%, MH+MHR 39%, SS+SSR 31%, WAH+WAHR 33%.
The Advance Rescue Training Standard (ART) includes four different modules: two modules with an expiry date (two years from completion) and two modules without. The former are Nacelle, Tower and Basement Rescue module, corresponding to the ART-N training record, and Hub, Spinner & Inside Blade Rescue module, corresponding to the ART-H training record. When these two records need to be refreshed, the Advance Rescue Refresher Training Standard has the respective refreshers modules, ART-NR and ART-HR training records. The two ART modules without an expiry date are Single Rescuer - Hub, Spinner & Inside Blade (SART-H training record) and Single Rescuer - Nacelle, Tower, Basement (SART-N).
2021 was a very successful year for the ART related records: +93% growth over 2020 and over 30,000 training records completed (15,591 in 2020). Relatively to all GWO records issued in 2021, ART represented almost 10%, an increase of 2,5% from 2020. In particular, the training records that grew the most compared to 2020 were ART-NR, +217%, and ART-HR, +173%.
The Enhanced First Aid Training Standard is a single-module standard, corresponding to the EFA training record, with an expiry date set two years from the completion date. The Enhanced First Aid Refresher Training Standard, corresponding to the EFAR training record, is its refresher standard. In 2021, EFA and EFAR combined represented 1.3% of the total GWO records and they grew +58% compared to the previous year (4,232 training records completed). Individually, EFA grew +49% and EFAR +68% compared to 2020.
The Basic Technical Training Standard consists of four modules Mechanical, Electrical, Hydraulics and Installation corresponding to the following training records: BTTM, BTTE, BTTH, BTTI. 2021 was a year of growth for the BTT related records. Overall, the four training records grew +51% over 2020 and represented over 5% of the total annual GWO records. The training record that grew the most was BTTE, +57%, while the one issued most was BTTM with 5,668 records in 2021.
The Blade Repair Training Standard consists of one single module, corresponding to the BR training record. BR grew 36% in 2021 compared to 2020, reaching almost one thousand records completed in one year.
The Slinger Signaller/Rigger Signal Person Training Standard is also consisting of one module, corresponding to the SLS training record. Compared to the previous year, 2021 saw the numbers of SLS records more than doubling: +114%, for a total of 3,241 records issued in 15 countries.
The Lift User Training Standard (LU) was introduced to the GWO portfolio in April 2021. So far, the standard includes only one module, the LU training record. However, more training standards regarding lifts in wind turbines have been announced. The draft versions of two more standards were released in October 2021: Lift Commission and Inspection Training Standard and Lift Commission Inspection Installation and Maintenance Training Standard. As soon as the drafts of the training standards will have undergone all the steps necessary for their official publication, they will be formally added to the GWO training standard portfolio.
In the first nine months since the release of the LU standard, 210 training records were issued by seven training providers in South Africa, Portugal, Spain, and Egypt:
Further GWO training providers became certified in LU training standard in 2021, without conducting training in 2021:
Disclaimer: WINDA data
This data is an unaudited extract from The GWO WINDA database and should be used for information purposes only. GWO is constantly refining its reporting structures resulting in some potential movements as baselines shift over time.