Wil Crisp
The government’s push into offshore wind power has created a boom in
renegade ship operators that are exploiting workers and putting lives in
danger, according to the UK’s largest marine workers’ union.
Nautilus has dubbed the sector that operates boats for the UK’s offshore
windfarms the “wild west” of renewable energy. The union says basic safety
rules are not being enforced, bullying and harassment are commonplace,
crews lack training and are often forced to work in sea conditions beyond
recommended limits.
Over the past decade as government subsidies have helped the UK become the
world leader in offshore wind power, the number of boats needed to ferry
technicians and equipment out to the UK’s offshore windfarms has increased
rapidly.
Currently about 400 workboats service Europe’s offshore turbines and most
of them operate in the UK where contracts with energy companies can be
worth more than £10m.
Andrew Linington, a spokesman for Nautilus, says regulators have failed to
keep up with the industry’s rapid growth and believes “there is potential
for a major accident involving loss of life” if the sector’s problems
aren’t taken seriously.
“The things we hear are shocking,” he said. “Workers are coerced into
working way beyond official limits – both in terms of sea conditions and
working hours.”
The warning from Nautilus comes after the government’s Marine Accident
Investigation branch revealed it had recorded an increase in accidents
involving windfarm service vessels crashing into “wind towers, quaysides
and other vessels.”
In a report released in November it voiced concerns about training and
recruitment standards, saying there is “clear potential for a rise in the
number and severity of accidents unless action is taken.”
The report highlighted two accidents that both occurred on 21 November
2012. One involved a high speed catamaran that partially sank after
crashing into a foam-filled steel raft used for target practice at the RAF
Donna Nook offshore bombing range near Grimsby.
The incident occurred after the vessel’s captain accidentally changed the
boat’s route while showing a trainee how to use navigational equipment. The
report says the captain became distracted and notes that the “day-glo
orange finish” of the metal raft along with its height and size should have
made it “relatively easy to see.”
Later, investigators discovered that the captain did not hold the
appropriate qualifications to operate the catamaran legally in UK waters
and his employer, Windcat Workboats, had not formally assessed him to
determine his suitability for the role.
The second incident mentioned in the report was a head-on collision with a
turbine tower in the Sheringham Shoal windfarm off the coast of Norfolk.
The crash injured all five of the vessel’s occupants causing head injuries
and breaking one passenger’s arm.
Investigators said that in both cases adhering to basic safety guidelines
would have prevented the accidents.
Responding to safety concerns in the sector shipping minister Stephen
Hammond said he had been assured by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency that
“in the busy summer months, thousands of personnel transfers at sea are
safely carried out.”
The boat operators themselves have also responded, saying the sector’s
safety problems are being exaggerated. Captain Mark Meade, managing
director of Turbine Transfers, one of the UK’s biggest work boat operators,
says the increase in accidents is a natural consequence of the increasing
number of boats operating in challenging offshore environments, and not
connected to poor safety standards.
“Unsafe companies are quickly weeded out,” he said. “Siemens, Dong Energy,
Centrica and all the other large windfarm operators have made a big push on
safety. There is no way around it.”
But critics of the sector aren’t satisfied. Linington says there is solid
evidence of widespread malpractice and says Hammond’s comments “smack of
complacency.”
“Operators who apply high safety standards are losing out to companies that
cut corners,” he said. “The situation is frighteningly similar to the boom
in North Sea oil in the 1970s. Back then people were warning of poorly
enforced standards, but it wasn’t until 167 men died in the Piper Alpha
disaster that anything was done to clean up the industry.”
Representing the wind industry, RenewableUK’s director of health and
safety, Chris Streatfeild, said: “We don’t condone any behaviour which
doesn’t comply with the rigorously high standards we demand. We recognise
that the safe operation of work boats is of paramount importance to all of
us working in the sector – best practice must be the norm at all times. As
the offshore wind industry expands, there is a potential for an increase in
incidents, but that doesn’t mean that we’re in any way complacent on safety
issues – quite the opposite.
“RenewableUK took the lead in developing industry-wide guidance on safety
in small boats and everyone involved in the sector is expected to work to
this. What we are seeing increasingly is that all those involved in the
industry are getting even better at reporting incidents – and that is to be
welcomed in the interests of transparency so that we can learn from each other.”
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