Global Wind Organisation and RenewableUK have teamed up to launch a new program to support highly skilled workers to move from similar sectors such as oil & gas in to renewables.

The GWO Safety Training Access Programme will launch in April 2021, it recognises complementary skills in the fields of basic safety so if workers have already undergone verifiable training it will allow them to fast track on to the GWO refresher courses.

RenewableUK’s Deputy Chief Executive Melanie Onn said: “We’re going to see a huge expansion in offshore wind over the course of this decade, quadrupling our current capacity by 2030. That means we’ll need a massive influx of highly-skilled UK workers to build vital new energy infrastructure. Former oil and gas workers offer a wealth of knowledge and experience in this field. This new programme will ensure the skills they already have are fully recognised and that we supplement the training they’ve already undergone with a new level of specialist understanding on how to work safely on offshore and onshore wind farms”

GWO will be reviewing other training standards to compare them to GWO courses and see if any other skills are transferable into the wind sector.

“The oil and gas basic safety training standard BOSIET is only 15% comparable to GWO’s basic safety training,” says Jakob Lau Holst, CEO of Global Wind Organisation. “But there’s such a huge demand for skilled people to make the switch and it’s their experience as engineers and electricians we want. Safety training is a vital passport to working in the renewable energy sector so we’re launching the Access Programme to give that little bit more assistance. Before, the only pre-requisite to being allowed onto a refresher course, was an existing GWO record. This gives people another potential way in.”

When the Programme is implemented, workers will be able to show a valid training certificate from another course to a GWO training provider and be fast tracked onto the relevant GWO refresher course.