GWO Certificates

[K2]

Been asked for these for non wind farm work. Anyone else encountered this or any problems with the GWO money spinner?

According to the GWO website these courses are a requirment if you come into contact with turbines. Vessel crew / ROV teams are fine with normal offshore certs but at the discretion of the client. Anyone in a position to comment on why clients would insist on ROV guys needing all this superfluous certification?

Are these GWO certs required for wind farm work outside of UK waters? The name ‘Global Wind Organisation’ would imply they are but there is no mention on their site to clarify.

Thanks

[Roy Simson]

Hi K2

I did speak to Søren Sejer Gøtzsche Communications Advisor at GWO a few weeks ago regarding GWO certs for ROV and UAV work and was told this the whole thing seems to be a Gray area when it comes to Rov or UAV since in both cases you are not in direct physical contact with a wind turbine , I did tell the guy of all my Opito courses that I had done This was his reply : –

Thank you for your e-mail.

To answer your question, I refer to our FAQ:

I have completed similar or even better safety-training courses in the past; can I use them instead of the Basic Safety Training Standard?

If you have physical contact with a turbine, your employers’ answer should clearly be “NO”.

The basic safety training standard has been developed in the absence of other relevant and recognized standard safety training, and in addition to addressing the main safety risks of working in the wind industry, standardization offers several benefits to your employers safety systems.

Common safety training standards greatly reduces complexity in site management systems and reduces the compliance costs of repeated employee/contractor verification checks.

For personnel working on wind projects without direct physical contact with a wind turbine, your employer may deem that your current skills are adequate. Examples could for instance include crew personnel on vessels operating on offshore wind project, and where mandatory safety training has been completed.

It is always your employer who decide what training you must have in order to complete a specific task, not GWO.

The GWO courses are all designed for people working in or on a wind turbine and are required to be trained in in order to do specific tasks. As stated in the FAQ, people who do not have physical contact with a wind turbine may have the adequate skills for the task. Again, it is the sole decision of your employer but there are no courses designed for Rov or UAV operators by GWO.

I hope that answers your questions and you are always welcome to contact me if you have any further questions.

Best regards

Søren Sejer Gøtzsche
Communications Advisor

Tel: (+45) 3373 0342
Email: gwo@windpower.org
Web: http://www.globalwindsafety.org

If you look at the format for all these courses OPITO , GWO and STCW ok with the GWO course you have to climb all over the wind turbine other wise the format is very much the same , Same goes for the cost over well over a £1000 + and I bet that every 3 or 4 years you need to do a re-fresher . The problem is there is no cross-recognition between OPITO (for the Oil & Gas Offshore Industry) , MCA (STCW) (for the Maritime Industry) and GWO For Offshore Wind Power . Should this be the case I can see Free Lance personnel ceasing because who on earth can pay out every 4 years about £4000 with the current day rates that are on offer plus all the other basic requirements like MIST and HV certs .

In some cases the Clients requirements are almost impossible to fill , Must hold Work Visa ,Then Inspection Certs like 3.4U , Competence Cert with 10 years Experience then just when you have ticket all the boxes they tell you Max age is 55 .

I have not come across any projects that require a GWO cert on a non wind farm job from my experience if your OPITO certs are in date your good to go . I wonder what’s going to happen once we leave the EU ?

[K2]

Raptor

I have been in touch with GWO too. Their website says the training is applicable to people coming into ‘physical contact with a wind turbine’. GWO say the training is applicable to anyone working ‘in or around’ a turbine. I asked for clariication as this statement is ambiguous but the secretariat would not commit.

The outcome is that we do not need any GWO certs/training but at the end of the day it is our employers responsibility to conduct a risk assessment and determine that OGUK certification is sufficient.

It is up to us to challenge our employers.

The way I see this is GWO like IMCA set guidelines. Companies then join GWO and attempt to follow the guidelines. Unfortunately for us no one seems to care about who needs training and who doesnt. A blanket call has been set for anyone, cook to Captain, to have the training regardless of whether it is required or not. No company is going to risk assess every job and decide who needs training.

Sad to see many ROV guys just doing these courses without question in order to secure the little work that is around. They have to be renewed between 12-24 months at around £350-550 per module. Odd that companies with staff are just paying too since the cost must mount up.

🙄

[Roy Simson]

Yes its the same as what the letter says from GWO but clients seem to want every thing now days , For years I chased certs and just when you thought you had a full set someone would bring out some new requirement .

Lets face it we go out there to the wind farm on a boat and launch the rov from that vessel in the same way I would launch a UAV to inspect the blades on the turbine , We dont go any were near the Turbine . Oh yes there is a inspect course for blade uk@altitec.co.uk and part one will set you back about £1000 + VAT , I dont mine paying out for courses like that but see no reason to pay for the GWO or the STCW because we dont leave the vessel plus we are not ships crew but I have seen more and jobs requiring Rov personnel to have a GWO course . At this rate I can see free lance personnel becoming extinct due to the overall cost .

I am wondering whats going to happen if and when we leave the EU will we need to have extra certs to cover that country ? Just think of the energy industry as a big Cow and every body wants a piece of the action .

being_milked__156.jpg

[deepseacon]

Working with a GWO Survival is an expensive option for freelance ROV Crew compared to Opito Bosiet / Foet.

GWO is twice the price can cost over 1500 GBP taking separately the 5 modules and is 6 days long. is around 1200 GBP booking a 6 day course same time.

Is Valid for 2 years!!!!!!

Can be renewed but takes several days to do a renewal.

how many days I am not sure but its 1 day to renew working at height one module
then there is the other 4 modules to renew.

And depending where you live there is less of these course running and no schedules for easy renewal or even to take the course in the first place.

Its an industry better suited for employee’s

As I have never been offered a decent rate from that industry in the last few years and they always wanted LTD invoice or taxed and before that years ago was sometimes on CIS only the rates have always been lower than other ROV works in OIL or Telecoms.

[andyrose]

I have tried to solve this too. As an ROV guy I can’t imagine a scenario where you would require a GWO cert of any kind, except possibly the First aid, if you had an Opito Bosiet. Working at heights and rescue at heights is a complete money spinner and can’t be justified in anyway other than financial racketeering.
Perhaps we should also hold diving certs as the ROV is underwater!

This situation needs resolving. Perhaps IMCA could offer some guidance, although I doubt that as they will not commit to anything either!

[liddelljohn]

this kind of ripoff or ‘ ‘confusion’ is not confined to offshore industry

I used to have various working at height certs and medicals for telecomms they cost £350 in total last time I did i t was 2004 and the cert lasted 3 years now even telecomms which i had thought of going back to now requires 9 certs!!!!!, 3 medicals 2 hse , 2 working at height and 2 proprietry courses total cost over £2.9k thats total over kill and a real money spinner even worse than offshore ,, 4 of the courses are copies but by a different scheme but employers require all ..ripoff comes to mind oh and the rates in telecomms is 50% of what I used to get last time i did it .

I was recently asked by an agency if i had GWO but for an ROV job …….why?????

[deepseacon]

Just seen this request from AGR

Advance Global Recruitment’s client requires: Position: Data Processor Location: Germany Mobilisation: 22nd August 2016 Duration: 3-4 weeks Required: GWO First Aid certificate or Red Cross First Aid Certificate SOW: Cable trenching and cable installation support Software: Qinsy

Seams that client will except a 3 day First Aid course if its from the Red Cross but all 3 day First Aid course’s are the same syllabus if done in the UK as HSE sets the standards.

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