Norway pioneers digital solutions to boost occupational safety in offshore wind

Offshore wind farms have an important role to play in renewable energy production, but their operations face a number of challenges. Offshore wind farms, and particularly floating wind farms, are typically located very far from the shoreline. The long distance from shore poses logistical challenges for transportation, supply chain management and emergency response efforts.

One of the foremost challenges is the harsh conditions of the marine environment. Offshore wind turbines are subjected to high winds, rough seas, corrosive saltwater and extreme temperatures. These conditions not only pose risks to the structural integrity of the turbines but also present hazards to personnel working in these environments.

Norway has numerous laws and practices in place to ensure work safety. In particular, the country is internationally recognised for its high worker safety standards in offshore activities. The legal framework governing Norway’s offshore activities is a robust mix of laws and regulations designed to minimise risk and prevent accidents.

The Norwegian Constitution guarantees the right to a safe and healthy workplace, and the Norwegian Working Environment Act ensures safe and healthy working conditions. Under the Act, regular risk assessments are required to identify and mitigate workplace hazards. In addition, the law gives high priority to worker participation in safety decisions.

Recognised for its thorough oversight, the Norwegian Ocean Industry Authority ensures comprehensive health and safety standards within the industry. Previously known as the Petroleum Safety Authority Norway, the agency was renamed to reflect the inclusion of offshore wind, which has many of the same safety challenges as oil and gas. These include lifting and marine operations, work in enclosed spaces, high voltages, dropped objects, hand tools and work at great heights.

Established in Norway in 1864, DNV is the world’s leading vessel classification society, whose purpose is to safeguard life, property and the environment. DNV is also active in offshore wind where it defines its role to be a trusted voice to help to tackle global transformation.

Norway’s global energy companies give high priority to occupational safety as well. Equinor, developer of the Hywind Tampen offshore floating wind farm, collaborates with Aker Solutions and Vår Energi on the Always Safe web platform. This open platform offers learning packages to all operators and suppliers to strengthen the safety culture in offshore activities and work towards zero major accidents while avoiding injuries and incidents in daily work.

Norway stands out as a global leader in digitalisation and advanced offshore technology. One crucial safety-solution is e-mustering, which ScanReach provides through a groundbreaking wireless IoT platform for the offshore wind industry.

Able to operate in steel environments, the wireless solution connects all personnel working on assets and on board service operation vessels. The result is highly effective Personnel On-Board control without the need for cables.

The solution pinpoints the location of workers in real time, from the farthest ship bulkhead to the highest wind turbine. This ensures better emergency response and reduces search and rescue time from hours to minutes. Wearables allow workers to communicate one-to-one as well.

Uptime International has pioneered an intelligent gangway system that enables the safe, motion-compensated transfer of personnel and cargo from vessels to floating offshore wind turbines or power stations. “The autonomous gangway system communicates with the vessel’s DP system to maximise operational performance and safety,” says Hugo Øyen, SVP Sales and Marketing at Uptime International.

The system’s intelligent assisted landing function learns each time an operator on board the ship performs a landing. The AI uses the data to improve the landing the next time it is performed at the same location. This automatically makes docking faster and safer the next time, ultimately reducing risk by eliminating human error.

Robotics technology has vastly improved worker safety in offshore activities, both above and below the water’s surface. Dangerous tasks that used to be done by humans, or not done at all, can now be handled remotely through various types of robots and drones.

Kongsberg Ferrotech’s family of robots performs in-situ inspection, maintenance and repair (IMR) of subsea assets in offshore wind. Designed for underwater habitats, the robots are equipped with various inspection and repair tools.

“For the first time, subsea IMR can be performed without remotely operated vehicles, divers and other vessel-supported equipment,” states Christopher Carlsen, CEO of Kongsberg Ferrotech.

“We have removed human labour from the risky underwater environment. Instead, relevant employees participate from their own workspace or use a smartphone and watch in real time while the robot performs the operations,” he adds.

In another solution, Remota enables large-scale remote operations in the ocean space, including floating offshore wind farms. The heart of the solution consists of land-based remote operating centres, which provide a range of services from autonomous navigation and engine monitoring to DP, gangway and crane operations. Navigation of unmanned service vessels (USV) and operation of remotely operated vehicles (ROV) are integrated in one remote operating centre.

To protect wind energy investments, all offshore assets must be monitored 24/7. Automasjon & Data’s environmental monitoring systems increase worker safety by using sensors and data programs to measure wind, temperature, barometric pressure, sea currents, waves and other parameters essential for offshore personnel. The company also has a targeted monitoring solution for helicopters to prevent deployment when environmental conditions are too dangerous.

Another company, Light Structures, has introduced its proven fibre-optic structural monitoring technology to the floating offshore wind industry. Known as SENSFIB, the system monitors stress, deflection and vibration and calculates fatigue on or in FOW turbines. The system can thus warn asset operators of the need for maintenance or shutdown before lives and assets are lost.

Another sensor monitoring solution comes from the Ex-tech Group, which delivers the world’s smallest sensors for hazardous areas on offshore wind farms. The wireless microsensors stick on assets such as cables, pipes and high voltage fuses, even in difficult-to-reach places with small surface areas.

“We know that explosions occur that could have been avoided. Our sensors detect problems on wind farms that human beings could never find,” says Jan Holm, CEO of the Ex-tech Group.

These are just a few examples of the innovative ways in which Norwegian companies utilise digitalisation and advanced technology to bring offshore wind workers home safely.

Explore more offshore wind solutions here.