Forewind’s ROAV Shortlisted for Safety Award

Forewind’s initiative to use remotely operated aerial vehicles to carry out bolt and structural inspections on its two meteorological masts has been named as a finalist in this year’s Renewable Energy Health & Safety Award 2015, with voting now open to choose the winning entry.

The Award aims to promote the development, implementation and sharing of best practice in health and safety across the sector and voting is now open to select the case study which best shows of how the industry and dedicated professionals are putting health & safety at the heart of their business.

Forewind’s case study shows how the organisation built on experience from the oil and gas industry, employing remotely operated aerial vehicle (ROAV) to inspect its two met masts on Dogger Bank in early 2014. The activity would normally require up to six rope access climbers more than two days per mast, however the ROAV was able to undertake the bolt inspection on each mast in less than a day.

By removing the need for individuals to work at height, undertake vessel transfers or work in harnesses suspended on ropes over the sea, the use of the ROAV has reduced or eliminated a number of potential risk situations.

Forewind’s HSE Manager, Nachaat Tahmaz said that it is a relatively simple solution to many potential health and safety risks that are inherent in traditional inspection methods.

“Our meteorological mast inspection is just one example of using this technique, but it has the potential to be adopted far more widely across the offshore wind energy industry, particularly during the operation and maintenance phase,” he said.