Offshore wind turbines platforms

Although the federal government has regulated the production of offshore oil and gas for decades, it has no experience with offshore wind farms. Land-based and offshore wind development share many of the same tasks and hazards in fact, once a technician is inside a wind turbine, most tasks are exactly the same. However, the challenge of working on and from vessels and in and over the water with massive offshore wind turbine equipment introduces additional hazards and different risks (see Chapters 2 and 4). The oil and gas and wind industries share most of these offshore hazards, but overall, the risk associated with oil and gas hazards is greater than that associated with offshore wind. In this context, workplace risk is viewed as the product of the probability and the consequence of a hazardous event. The oil and gas industry works with a more volatile product, so the risk of explosion or fire on offshore platforms is greater than on offshore wind turbines. 

A second difference between an offshore oil and gas platform and an offshore wind turbine is the inherent unknown of the geological structure underneath an oil and gas platform, such as an undetected high-pressure gas pocket or unexpected subsidence of the earth s surface, neither of which is a likely source of an emergency on an offshore wind turbine. 

Personnel transfers Higher More boat transfers expected for a worker on offshore wind turbines. Oil and gas platform boat landings and helipads are larger than those for wind monopiles. Helicopters are used more often for oil and gas. 

The oil and gas industry has worked in an offshore environment for decades and has many best practices and standards that would be useful for the offshore wind industry. Chapter 3 introduces regulations and standards that are followed by the oil and gas industry and discusses their relevance to the offshore wind industry. While the oil and gas and wind industries share many offshore hazards, the overall associated risk for oil and gas hazards is greater than for the offshore wind industry. The oil and gas industry works with a more volatile product, and the risk of an explosion or fire on an offshore oil and gas platform is greater than on an offshore wind turbine. Furthermore, offshore drilling platforms are manned and thus pose a greater risk to human life than does the unmanned wind turbine. Chapter 5 discusses the associated risks of the oil and gas industry and the wind industry in more detail. 

Finding 5. Some of the safety and environmental management system (SEMS) requirements for the offshore oil and gas industry would be appropriate for offshore wind farm worker health and safety and could be adapted to regulations for offshore wind installations. However, the overall risk to the health and safety of workers and to the environment associated with an offshore oil and gas platform is greater than that associated with an offshore wind turbine. 

Working offshore in a marine environment is challenging and introduces multiple hazards. Weather conditions can be harsh and change constantly. European offshore wind operations already face such hazards as transfers to and from turbine platforms from vessels in shifting seas and injuries associated with dropped objects or with crane operations and suspended loads. Assembling sections of a wind turbine offshore can... 

Certain hazards—chemical exposure, fire, and explosion—associated with the volatile products involved in offshore oil and gas work are less likely with offshore wind. And, because the number of people on a wind turbine at any one time is much smaller than on a drilling platform, the likelihood of a worker being exposed to these hazards is smaller. Common hazards for the oil and gas industry may include falls (particularly down stairs) injuries from cranes and heavy lifts injuries from being struck by objects and musculoskeletal injuries from lifting, which may occur less frequently on wind turbines but have similar consequences. Other typical worker injuries including slips and trips and exposure to the weather elements may occur with a similar frequency, but the overall risk of a catastrophic event on an oil and gas platform is higher than what can be expected on a wind farm. For wind farms, the likelihood of a catastrophic event is lower with respect to personnel and environmental... 

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