SPONSORS OF COMPETENCY TRAINING FEATURE
THE DEMANDS OF THE INDUSTRY
THE NUMBER OF WIND TURBINE INSTALLATIONS IS MULTIPLYING RAPIDLY AND SO TOO THE DEMAND FOR COMPETENCY BASED TRAINING IN THE VARIOUS SKILL SETS THIS ENTAILS.
settings to the bolts quickly, accurately and safely is crucial to maintaining schedules and keeping labour costs down.
LESSONS LEARNED In offshore wind installation particularly, lessons and good practice have been drawn from the offshore oil and gas industry where bolting competency has been recognised as a crucial area in ensuring both operator safety and integrity of the bolted connection itself.
KEY COMPONENTS AND KEEPING LABOUR COSTS DOWN Bolting is a key component in the construction, installation and ongoing maintenance of wind turbines with hundreds of bolts required for fastening tower sections, foundations and blades. Tightening and applying final torque
Bringing down the costs of offshore wind construction is one of the biggest challenges facing the industry. Installation equipment needs to be reliable, effective and competently operated thus requiring a combination of bespoke equipment and properly trained operations personnel in order to minimise costs and schedules.
INSTALLATION WORK
The installation bolting work is largely undertaken utilising hydraulic torque wrenches and tensioners. Whilst such equipment has been around for many years, it was originally designed predominantly for maintenance purposes, whereas the scale of current and upcoming offshore wind installation is such that these tools are effectively being required to operate in a production environment. Much design time and testing has gone into producing upgraded bolting equipment specifically to meet the needs of the wind industry. However, in stark contrast with the oil and gas industry, many of the operatives using this equipment have undertaken no specific bolting competency training.
ECITB TRAINING – NEW METHOD The ECITB in collaboration with Step Change in Aberdeen has introduced a new method of training and validating skills in the crucial area of bolted connections. The approved training courses are derived from the new ECITB mechanical joint integrity technical training standards with work based task assignments and new ECITB technical tests introduced.
EMPLOYER AND CLIENT For the employer and client the new approved training courses, ECITB technical tests and associated ECITB certificate of achievement can be used to ensure that their workforce has the necessary skill, ability and knowledge to undertake work on bolted connections competently and safely. For the individual the recognised training courses, a successful technical test and associated ECITB certificate of achievement indicates the possession of necessary skill, ability and job knowledge in undertaking the bolting work.
ECITB approved training providers and ECITB approved test centres
www.ecitb.org.uk
Graeme Cook Gee-Force Northern Limited
www.gee-forcenorthern.co.uk.
88
www.windenergynetwork.co.uk
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