Six years without fatalities in offshore wind, lost workday injuries rise in 2019

G+, an
organisation dedicated to health and safety performance in offshore wind, has released the
2019 statistics for the sector which show there were no accidents with fatal
outcome last year, as well as the five years before that. However, lost workday
injuries have risen in 2019, compared to the previous years and, especially,
compared to 2018.

The members of G+ have reported a total 865
incidents in the last year, with 62 being lost workday injuries. The lost
workday figure stood at 39 in 2018 and ranged from 41 to 49 in the four previous
years. Safety statistics prior to 2019 reflect the number of incidents, not
injuries, G+ noted. Still, the organisation pointed out that the figure for
2019 is “disappointing”.

“Whilst we continue on a general trend
of improvement in our safety performance, 2019 does show an increase in the
reported number of injuries, especially those relating to lost workdays. We are
therefore disappointed with our 2019 incident data. Especially following the
significant progress made the previous year”, said Tove
Lunde, Chair of G+ and Head of Equinor’s Safety, Security and
Sustainability department in the New Energy Solutions business unit.

“The difference is in part driven by a
change in the metrics used to collate and analyse the data, but is nonetheless
still a focus of discussion and attention, with members scrutinising reported incidents
to establish if appropriate G+ guidance was in place and if being followed”, Tove Lunde explained.

The leading of the top three work processes
during which the highest numbers of incidents were recorded are lifting
operations (93) and the first of the top three areas where incidents occurred is
a wind turbine (291).

Some 245 incidents happened on vessels, of
which 108 involved crew transfer vessels, while 274 occurred onshore.

G+ reports 91 incidents happened during access/egress, and 76 during manual handling.

Of the total 865 incidents in 2019, 41 resulted
in an emergency response or medical evacuation.

On operational sites, there were 463
incidents, 376 occurred on construction sites, and 26 were reported to have
happened on development sites.

Looking at incidents resulting in asset
damage, G+ reports 141 such cases for 2019.

“As installed capacity increases around
the world, and the global workforce grows, so too does the potential for
exposure to the hazards associated with operating in offshore environments”, Tove Lunde said.

Restricted workday injuries have dropped to
23 in 2019 from 34 in 2018. Medical treatment injuries continue on a downwards
trend, making 2019 the year with the lowest number on record, G+ states.

The curve is going down for high potential
incidents as well, with 252 recorded in 2019, while there were 344 such
instances in 2016. G+ defines high potential incidents as those that had the
potential to cause a fatality or a life-changing injury.

High potential incidents mostly occurred on
wind turbines and vessels, especially crew transfer vessels. Last year, the
figures for these areas have fallen by 2 per cent and 6 per cent, respectively,
compared to 2018.

G+ says crew transfer vessels are the area
with the highest number of high potential injuries, the highest number of emergency
response or medical evacuation injuries, and the highest number of overall
injuries in 2019.

As crew transfer to and from offshore wind
farms is done on a regular basis, a large number of people can be impacted and
there is a higher possibility of an incident happening. One crew transfer
vessel incident alone resulted in 15 lost workday injuries in 2019, according
to G+.

The organisation, which has issued two
editions of a guidebook for the use of small service vessels, said it will
continue to work closely with contractors in developing and improving guidance
in the field of crew transfer.