The wind turbine industry is becoming more lively than ever with an immense need for a GWO-trained workforce, which will open more career opportunities for many people. To embark on your journey as an engineer in this industry or any industry related, GWO Basic Safety Training (GWO BST) is an essential training course for you to gain basic skill as well as necessary technical information. Together with VIVABLAST, let’s figure out all about what this course has to offer in the article below.
What is GWO?
GWO is an abbreviation of Global Wind Organization – a non-profit organization established by wind turbine manufacturers and owners with the ultimate goal to ensure an injury free work environment in the wind turbine industry as well as related industries. The GWO provides courses that prepare future engineers with the knowledge of safety training,emergency procedures and skills solving unexpected stituations to reduce the risks associated with safety hazards while working in the wind industry.
GWO Basic Safety Training course objective
As the name has suggested, the GWO BST course is all about Safety. This training is made purposely to enable delegates to perform work (both onshore and offshore) safely, support not only themselves but also others by acquiring the knowledge of legislation, first aid, and skills to utilize tools, equipments when needed. Furthermore, in case of any emergency occurrence, all engineers will be able to evacuate, rescue and provide first aid to prevent any further injuries until they can be handed over to the next level of care.The GWO BST is designed mainly for all staffs and employees who will be working and usually in contact with wind structures in a wind turbine environment, high altitude and offshore working environment. All GWO BST course will take about 6 days with 5 days of learning all of the course’s modules and 1 day to complete the exam. In order to successfully register for GWO courses , learners are required to be medically fit and obliged to provide a medical declaration with no contra-indications..
GWO Basic Safety Training course content
To start your career path, the basic and mandatory requirement is that you must get a GWO Training certificate, which includes 5 modules as follow:
GWO First aid (GWO – FA)
The main focus of this subject is to prepare you for the background knowledge to carry out first-aid duties as well as how to use the life-saving kit. Furthermore, you will learn how to request help from telemedical consultation or rescue assistance and provide a concise and relevant report of the casualty’s condition.The ultimate goal is to prevent further injuries, whether it is minor or serious until casualty can be handed over to the next level of care.
GWO Working at height (GWO – WH)
In addition to the common procedures for rescue and evacuation from high-altitude workplaces, the participants are trained on the use of common rescue and descender devices, as well as the proper rescue and recovery of casualties. For this BST Working at heights module, the participant must be physically and medically fit to participate as the fall arrest systems can only handle a maximum of 136 to 140 kg.
GWO Manual Handling (GWO – MH)
Through comprehensive training, this course will provide learners with knowledge of positive manual handling behavior in a safe manner in the wind industry. This includes:
- Overview of relevant legislation, standards & guidance;
- Correct manual handling techniques;
- Incident and injury reporting associated with manual handling;
- Equipment pre and post-use checks, including certification of equipment…
GWO Sea survival (GWO – SS)
In GWO Sea survival course, Trainees will learn survival techniques and methods of safe transfer between vessels and installations. In addition, participants will acquire the ability to act safely and responsibly on encountering any risks and hazards on the sea.This may include: how to release and inflate the life raft, the exercise of donning the sling while the course participants are in the water during a helicopter rescue simulation, the practice of safe transfer between ladder and boat and vice versa.There will also be specific equipment used for this case, such as: WTG ladder, and emergency descent device,…
GWO Fire Awareness (GWO – FAW)
For this last module, participants will have achieved skills and basic knowledge about:
- Identifying any signs of fire;
- Follow emergency escape procedures;
- Follow the correct procedures and operations for fire extinguishing with firefighting equipment
…
Training course is to give delegates the skills and knowledge needed to prevent fires. You will practice in a realistic environment, including ‘live’ fire training using a range of first aid fire appliances (FAFA) to combat fire and evacuate to a safe environment.For delegates who are only going to work onshore, it is mandatory to learn the first 4 modules. For those who are going to work offshore, it is best to learn the whole 5 modules. All modules will be taught both theoretical and practical practices.Upon finishing the courses, delegates will be receiving a certificate to start works in the wind industry. For the GWO Basic Safety Training (GWO BST), the certificate will be valid for 24 months so prior to the expiration date, all delegates must undertake the course once again to remain certified.
Start your GWO Basic Safety Training course at VIVABLAST
VIVABLAST is the first authorized center in Vietnam eligible to hold all the GWO Training courses as well as provide the GWO certificate to delegates upon completing the course. The center was opened in 2020 in accordance with the Global Wind Academy (GWA) from Denmark. When participating in any GWO Training courses at VIVABLAST, you will be able to learn at an approved facility for training with certified protective gear and reliable tools under the guidance and support of experienced trainers. This will not only help trainees gain knowledge in preparing for career growth but also give the best training experience with the theoretical and practical classes. One more thing to keep in mind is that this certificate is not only valuable in Vietnam but also recognized worldwide.