HEALTH & SAFETY
MRL EYE DEMONSTRATION – HARTLEPOOL 16/3/11
On the same day that TWM gave their very interesting presentation of ROVs, MRL Ltd also demonstrated their ‘Eye in the Sky’ on the Hartlepool Quayside.
HEALTH AND SAFETY IN THEWIND ENERGY INDUSTRY
Andrew Sanderson (Associate) and Rob Elvin (Partner) are both with the Environmental, Safety and Health group at Squire Sanders Hammonds. Over the last 18 months they have been working closely with a number of industry bodies and organisations within the wind energy sector, advising on their health and safety obligations and responsibilities under various regulations.
Here, they give a brief overview of some of the key health and safety issues facing the wind energy sector in the coming period.
Health and safety regulation and enforcement covers virtually every aspect of business life within the UK. Business sectors are subject to greater and more stringent regulation than ever before and the wind energy sector is no exception to this.
Increasing challenges
The wind energy sector is facing increasing challenges in the future, specifically connected with the development and enforcement of health and safety regulation. These challenges will be applicable to both onshore and offshore operators to varying degrees.
During the course of 2009 the Health & Safety Executive (the ‘HSE’) produced a document entitled “HSE Scanning – Wind Energy”, which looked at the development of onshore as well as offshore wind energy. They identified a number of areas that they considered to be of particular concern in this sector, namely working at height, slips and trips, contact with machinery, possible risk of electrocution or from a fire, construction in windy conditions, diving activities, siting the turbines and issues such as stepping from a boat to a turbine.
The fact that the HSE is focusing on this sector means that all organisations involved with wind energy should be ensuring that their health and safety policies and procedures are up-to-date and relevant.
MRL are presently looking at the synergies which may be possible between themselves and TWM regarding what they could do to help Health and Safety in the wind energy industry.
There is a simple message here – the less time people spend in challenging and dangerous environments the safer the industry will become.
We were presented with what could be described as a remote helicopter which carried a video camera and behaved extremely well in fairly blustery and turbulent conditions.
The company is very new to this industry and would welcome serious professional contact from interested parties to find out just how they can help.
MRL Limited
www.mrl-limited.co.uk
Rob Elvin Andrew Sanderson
Over the course of the next few editions of Wind Energy Network we will be looking at a number of the major areas relating to the health and safety impact on the wind energy industry, discussing them in detail. The areas that will be discussed will include:
• The implementation of the Machinery Directive and the impact this will have on the use of lifts and other devices within wind turbines
• The application of the Construction Design and Management Regulations to the planning phases of onshore wind facility
• The application and applicability of maritime law to offshore wind farm operations
• General health and safety concerns for the operations of wind farms both onshore and offshore
Squire Sanders Hammonds
www.ssd.com
e
www.windenergynetwork.co.uk 33
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