Renewable Energy Giants Form G9 Offshore Wind Health and Safety Group (UK)

Nine of the world’s largest renewable energy developers have come together to form a new group, that places health and safety at the forefront of all offshore wind activity and developments – G9 Offshore Wind Health and Safety Association Limited.

The new forum, to be known as G9, will aim to create and deliver world class safety performance across all of its activities in the offshore wind industry.

By working closely together, senior executives of all member companies will not only commit resources from their own respective teams, but will meet and actively lead the industry in finding solutions to the safety challenges that our offshore wind projects will face.

The group intends to build upon the existing focus given to health and safety and deliver the necessary leadership and focus for the industry. To support these initiatives the G9 has formed a board of senior executives representing all member companies and has appointed a Chairperson, Mr. Paul Smith of SSE, who has already commenced the process of appointing a general manager whose remit will be to facilitate the activities of the members.

G9 has also constituted a “Focal-Point” team of leading Health & Safety professionals from across Europe who will carry forward the projects devised and developed by the board. The Focal-Point’s main activities will be to engage with stakeholders, share learning and identify best practices that will be commended to the entire industry.

The G9 intend to work together to :

• Ensure that health and safety is recognised as a core value within the European offshore wind industry

• Promote and maintain the highest possible standards of health and safety through the life cycle of offshore wind projects

• Identify key health and safety risks within the European offshore wind industry and identify best practice solutions to mitigate those risks to an acceptable level

Actively engage and work with major stakeholders within the European offshore wind industry to support, develop or deliver best practice health and safety solutions. This will be achieved by appointing key contacts from the G9 member companies, who will maintain close and regular contact with all of its identified stakeholders so that it can maintain their support for the G9’s leadership on safety issues.

The G9 recognise that individual countries, developers and operators already take health and safety very seriously. However, in an industry where there is large scale development involving companies from many different countries, it is vital to develop and ensure a common approach and understanding of health and safety standards.

The group will also consult widely with government agencies, trade associations, supply chain partners and other stakeholders in the sector. The work of the G9 will be funded by its founder members. The G9 will shortly produce details of its intended priorities and health & safety objectives for 2012.

G9 Founder Members are:

Centrica, DONG Energy, E.ON, RWE Innogy, Scottish Power Renewables, SSE, Statkraft, Statoil and Vattenfall

Comments from the Chairman of the G9 Steering Group:

“The creation of the G9 is a significant step towards promoting a strong, sustainable and continually improving health and safety culture within the European offshore wind industry.”

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Offshore WIND staff, February 15, 2012; Image: siemens