SPONSORS OF COMPETENCY TRAINING FEATURE
THE OFFSHORE CHALLENGES
The focus of the expansion of the wind energy industry is now centred offshore. This now brings us into a world that can never be learned solely from textbooks. Yes, it is possible to learn the theory but how do you teach somebody what it is like to travel in a high speed catamaran at 30 knots into a choppy sea? How do you teach someone what it is like to transfer from a vessel to a tower unless we actually get those trainees out there or, at the very least, recreate these conditions as close as is possible here ashore?
EXISTING TRAINING There are many training providers offering courses covering safety and working practices. It is possible to experience the ditching of a helicopter, in the dark, and subsequent escape there from.
Working at heights can be achieved at shore based facilities. Many practical courses exist that help to add to a person’s competency but many are classroom based and do not offer that ‘hands on’ experience that is really required.
THE REAL WORLD – GETTING UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL It does not matter how many photographs you look at, or videos you watch, nothing can match the scale of actually being there. Boats, ships, towers etc are generally shown against a grey, faceless background and do not have any sense of scale about them.
Even standing in a dock estate looking across at a vessel does not convey the true size. It is necessary to get up close and personal. You have to climb the gangway, hold the six inch diameter octoplait mooring rope in your hand, experience the heat and noise of the engine room. Watch as ‘monster trucks’ trundle by on the quayside carrying containers as though they were child toys.
SIT IN A LIFEBOAT, LOOK IN THE RADAR, FEEL IT, LIVE IT.
Those are images and experiences that will stay with you forever and make you a truly competent person in your given industry.
Albert Weatherill McAusland & Turner Ltd
www.mcauslands.com
www.windenergynetwork.co.uk
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