The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has served its first immediate prohibition notice against an offshore wind farm, Seagreen.
During a routine inspection on 6 September, HSE inspectors found that there were no suitably trained first aiders or adequate equipment located on the project’s offshore substation platform to deal with a potential medical incident.
The inspection also identified that a paramedic with Petrofac (LON:PFC), the principal contractor for work on the wind farm, was located on the Ocean Zephyr service operations vessel, and was not connected to the offshore substation platform.
The body served both the SSE-led joint venture that owns the project and Petrofac with the prohibition notices, the first due to work on an offshore wind farm.
Prohibition notices are issued in instances where the watchdog deems there is “risk of serious personal injury” and requires that remedies take place immediately.
A Petrofac spokesperson told Energy Voice: “During a routine, inspection the HSE identified gaps relating to medical emergency support arrangements for the Seagreen offshore wind farm substation platform.
“Our team immediately stopped work, promptly addressed the requirements of the notice and have subsequently undertaken a robust lessons learned process. The health, safety and well-being of our people is our number one priority.”
Petrofac previously installed the offshore substation in 2022, and as principal contractor, the company’s workers were undertaking fabric maintenance, electrical and mechanical works during the inspection.
The 1.075GW Seagreen project is Scotland largest offshore wind farm as well as the world’s deepest fixed bottom wind farm, having begun operations in October 2023.
Situated around 17 miles (27km) off the Angus coast, the foundations of the project’s 114 Vestas V164-10.0 MW turbines are set in water depths of around 183 feet (56 metres).
The project is operated by SSE Renewables (LON:SSE), which owns 49% of the project, while TotalEnergies (PAR: TTE) and Thailand’s PTTEP own 25.5% each.
Health and safety record
This is not the first health and safety issue that has occurred at the Seagreen offshore wind farm. In November 2022, workers on the project had to evacuate its transformer platform following the release of sulphur hexafluoride (SF6), a non-toxic but potent greenhouse gas.
Research from the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow has warned that the global offshore wind sector has an injury rate four times higher than the offshore oil and gas sector.
Offshore wind projects suffered an average of 30 emergency response events every year since 2014, with 40% classed as “high potential incidents”.
The study compared the two sectors, noting that oil and gas suffered a poor health and safety performance as it went through rapid growth and technology changes in the 1970s, similar to offshore wind at present.
In addition, extreme weather and challenges accessing turbines present challenges to keeping workers safe on offshore wind farms.
GMB Scotland said the oversight and enforcement action of the HSE is welcome but said more transparency is needed to ensure workers in the wind industry are given every possible protection.
Senior organiser in manufacturing and engineering Gary Cook said: “The off-shoring of so many jobs and contracts in renewables must not mean the UK is in a race to the bottom in pay, conditions, and workers’ safety.
“Wind power may be a relatively new industry but must be regulated by the same legal framework protecting workers in oil, gas or any other sector.
“Those protections have been put in place over a number of years, have been built on union recognition and are enforced offshore and on.
“There is no doubt that unionised workplaces are safer workplaces and companies rushing into this sector must be reminded of that and encouraged to engage with unions to ensure their staff are safe and protected.”
The HSE issued two sets of guidance this year about work on offshore wind farms, one over the safety of gangways used to connect service vessels to offshore wind turbines, and another on service lifts.
The group warned that gangways pose a risk of entrapment and shearing, and falls from height, while service lifts pose a threat of body parts getting trapped between fixed and moving parts.
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