Wind turbine technicians flocked to GWO training in 2017

• Global Wind Industry Training Records Database (WINDA) publishes first full year data
• 44,000+ people completed GWO Basic Safety Training in 2017
• Top ten training providers delivered over 52,000 GWO modules in 2017
• 135 nationalities trained in 36 countries

Copenhagen – Thursday 22 February 2018 – Global Wind Organisation has published its first annual report, which shows that during 2017 44,418 technicians from 135 countries received GWO certified safety training in 2017.

GWO, a non-profit representing wind turbine manufacturers and operators covering more than two thirds of the market**, operates WINDA, which verifies the certification status of GWO Certified Training Providers and the training status of technicians or ‘Delegates’, who have attended GWO certified training courses.

WINDA launched in October 2016 and GWO today publishes its first full year of data.

The report reveals a range of information including a top ten training providers (see table below), who delivered over 52,000 modules in 2017. Meanwhile, 30 providers delivered more than 100 modules every month and the top 15 nations represented on WINDA now includes significant markets outside Europe, with Mexico, India and the USA all increasing their volumes of training.

Jakob Lau Holst, CEO of Global Wind Organisation, says: “GWO strives for an injury free working environment in the wind industry, through cooperation among the members and other stakeholder organisations in setting world wide safety training standards based on industry statistics and risk evaluations.

“We are confident the numbers speak for themselves. Our membership frequently reports that by adopting GWO standards they can make considerable improvements in the overall efficiency of their training programs.

“Anecdotal evidence from Wind Turbine Generator (WTG) manufacturers in GWO membership suggests this could be roughly equivalent to the time spent by technicians on their previous basic safety and technical programs. For global sub-contractors, the frequency of avoided duplication is reportedly much higher, as they tend to have more mobility across installation and service sites.

“Assuming an average of one annual avoided training day per GWO certified training day, GWO certified technicians have potentially been available for an additional 121,744 days of work during 2017,” Jakob says.

Global Wind Organisation Certified Training Providers 2017

1. Falck Safety Services 9.4%
2. Maersk Training 9.0%
3. Siemens Gamesa 5.4%
4. AIS 4.3%
5. Windhunter Academy 3.3%
6. Complete Training Solutions 3.1%
7. 3M Fall Protection/Capital Safety Group 2.7%
8. FORMA-T 2.1%
9. Ingeteam 2.0%
10. TESICNOR SL 1.9%
11. Others (146 training providers) 56.8%

‍