Category: STL USA news

What we’re discussing at AWEA O&M safety conference.

As we get closer to heading to San Diego for this year’s AWEA O&M safety conference we thought we highlight the key areas of focus for STL USA.

This year’s AWEA O&M safety conference will be a great opportunity to connect with our friends and colleagues across the industry, discuss the topics that really matter and work out how we can collectively solve these issues together. STL USA will be exhibiting on booth 314 come and find us.

For STL USA our focus this year is on a number of key areas including; developing offshore capability, launching Basic Technical Training and working with the labour supply chain to ease the bottleneck of trained technicians entering wind.

Offshore safety training, GWO Sea Survival.

With significant developments taking place on both the East and West coast, including the Ocean Wind site, demand for offshore technicians has never been higher. This puts huge pressure on the need for GWO Sea Survival courses, located within a sensible travelling distance of the fields. Currently the market is very thin. Offshore facilities have historically been centred around the Oil and Gas sector, located around the Gulf of Mexico but this needs to change given winds development on the East and West coast. To this end STL USA are actively seeking out sites to ensure we can meet this demand from the growing sector.

Developing Technical training, GWO Basic Technical Training

We believe that 2020 will see increasing importance placed on the need for technical training in the wind sector. As demand continues to grow for trained individuals only so much can be serviced from techs moving across sectors, in-house training and labour movement. We believe that 2020 will be the year where BTT becomes a key access point for people wanted to work in wind, whether high school or college leavers or those transitioning from unrelated areas. Ensuring a consistent flow of manpower is going to be crucial and we’re lucky that this is also recognised by our partners at Texas State Technical College.

How can we move people into wind energy faster?

Recent conversations with partners and clients have led us to explore the manpower problem from all angles in recent months. We clearly have an issue in the sector, there’s not enough technicians and not really enough places to train them. These are classic teething problems of a fast growing sector and something we’re keen to address. Ideas we’ve explored include a credit based system for experienced workers at height to gain credits on GWO course for existing qualifications, a transition path covering technical course modules and safety. We haven’t got a definitive answer to this question, what we do know is that we will need to come together as a sector to address this issue. New course formats and markeing criteria will need to be developed, tested and rolled out. AWEA O&M safety conference is a perfect place to do this, we look forward to speaking with you there.

AWEA O&M safety conference will be busy, the best way to ensure a conversation with STL USA is to book a meeting slot. Just click the link below.

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Why get the STL USA newsletter

Apart from the wit and imaginative writing there’s a bunch of reasons to get the STL USA newsletter!

So why should you get the STL USA newsletter? We’ll we bring you the lowdown on some of the best news in wind energy safety, the latest developments at STL USA and so much more.

Be the first to hear about course dates and availability

GWO training is becoming increasingly popular in the USA and with limited providers it pays to know when and where you can train. After all taking technicians out of the field costs money, STL USA strive to make the process simple and painless to minimise the impact to your bottom line, ensuring your workforce is fully qualified to the GWO Basic Safety training standard.

Get updates on offers and funding opportunities for training courses

We regular run promotions on our courses and make available funding via our regional and state partners. Funding goes fast, grab the newsletter to be kept up to date on opportunities. For example a client recently had 90% of their course fee’s paid via a state funding program in Texas. Can you afford not to benefit from this?

Sign-Up and Don’t Miss Out

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Looking ahead to AWEA O&M 2020

AWEA O&M 2020, join us at this year’s AWEA Wind Project O&M and Safety Conference in San Diego.

AWEA O&M 2020 takes place this year on the 26th and 27th of February in San Diego. STL USA will be there showcasing our latest GWO training services and taking place in a number of panels on training and safety systems.

There are now over 56, 000 wind turbines with a combined capacity of 100 gigawatts (GW) of wind energy in the ground and 22 GW expected offshore by 2030 across the United States.

But what’s the impact looking like for operations in the 2020s? Larger turbines, advances in storage and predictive maintenance are the types of technology trends that have the potential, if done right, to create more efficiencies and more reliable energy. A successful wind project requires more than top-notch technology; its most important asset are the people who maintain the projects.

Despite wind and solar technicians being the two fastest growing jobs in the country, the industry is struggling to meet the needs of a growing number of projects, many of which are coming off warranty. Owner operators are faced with the daunting task of meeting these needs on a tighter budget while continuing to keep the safety of their techs as the top priority.

How can the industry practically leverage technology like digitalization, crane-less work, and drones to ensure the safety of their workers? What efforts are underway to properly prepare and train workers? This year’s O&M and safety conference will focus on these important workforce issues for owner operators.

Safety Technology USA will be front and center on these discussions as we bring our global training experience to the fore. The USA is not alone in experiencing these challenges, more mature wind markets in Europe have worked through the same growing pains. With a history of training across Europe and beyond Safety Technology USA are well positioned to support owner operators through this period of fast growth.

Meet us at O&M, booth 314 in the Coronet Room.

Click below to arrange a meeting time.

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Happy Holidays! Looking back on 2019

Happy Holidays to everyone we’ve worked with and met through 2019.

2019 has been a hectic year so we thought we’d run through some of the highlights and take a sneak peak at what’s in store for 2020.

Major highlights in 2019 have included.

Opening a new GWO training facility in Kansas City

Mid way through 2019 we brought on a new facility in Kansas City to deliver GWo working at height. This forms part of our coninued expansion of facilities to service customers throughout the major wind centers of the USA.

Passing the 500 technicians trained mark for the first year in the USA

Whilst our parent company Safety Technology has been training technicians since GWO started we have only been operating in the USA for a few short years. This years was our first to pass 500 technicians trained across our facilities in Iowa, Texas, Kansas City and onsite.

Gaining full onsite certification a USA first

We were extremely proud to have been awarded the onsite certification from GWO in the USA this year. We are now the first and only officially accredited training provider in North America to be able to offer onsite GWO training. For STL USA this was an imperative in 2019 and we look to service clients top to bottom and east to west across the country. The sheer size of the USA presents certain logistical challenges for both us and HSE managers and feedback had indicated that an onsite service was in high demand. So far this year our trainers have travelled from the Pacific North west to the East coast and covered virtually every inch of Texas!

Expanding our team with amazing new hires

Ben Dickens has joined the STL USa team to head up the Sales & Marketing operation and oversee the companies growth. Ben’s got a clear remit to make STL USA the number one training provider in North America. Brandon McKelvain joins us as a new GWO trainer based out of Sweetwater, Texas. Brandon has a host of working at height experience and joins our roster of USA and international trainers delivering courses across the country and world.

Attending O&M Safety exhibition in San Diego

Our biggest exhibition of the year took place in San Diego at the AWEA O&M Safety conference. The event brought both US based companies and international businesses together to talk safety, safety innovations and meet collegaues with an interest and remit for technician safety. It was a great opportunity to meet up with our existing customers and build new relationships throughout the industry. We will be attending again in 2020, come and say high.

Looking ahead to 2020

2020 looks set to be the year of offshore, it’s a key area of focus for STL USA. Expect to hear more about developments in offshore training in the first half of the year.

The STL USA team will continue to grow into 2020 as we recruit more trainers to cover the demand for courses across our facilities.

STL prides itself on its ability to form strong strategic partnerships. Expect to see announcements as we work through the supply chain.

Wind will continue to grow fast in the USA. Given the economics now in play the development of wind energy facilities in only set to increase.

For more information on STL USA training get in touch here:

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GWO Basic Safety training in Iowa and Texas Latest Dates

GWO Basic Safety training in Iowa and Texas last minute availability.

Demand for GWO Basic Safety Training in Iowa and Texas has been unprecedented so we have scheduled two additional courses in December and January.

Texas course availability

Starting Tuesday December 3rd and Tuesday December 10th we have two weeks of GWO Basic Safety Training Refresher courses at our GWO training center Texas covering the four core Basic Safety Training modules.

Starting Monday December 16th 2019 at Texas State Technical College will be a full GWO Basic Safety Training course including all onshore modules. The course will cover;First Aid, Fire Awareness, Manual Handling and Working at Height. Running over 5 days the course will be led by STL USA’s highly experienced instructors.

12/3/19 GWO Basic Safety Training Refresher

12//10/19 GWO Basic Safety Training Refresher

Full course details:

GWO Basic Safety Training Refresher

Duration:

3 days starting December 10th 2019

Modules:

Fire Awareness
First Aid
Manual Handling
Working at Height

Training location:

Texas State Technical College, Sweetwater, Texas,

Places available

4 places currently available

GWO Basic Safety Training

Duration:

5 days starting December 16th 2019

Modules:

Fire Awareness
First Aid
Manual Handling
Working at Height

Training location:

Texas State Technical College, Sweetwater, Texas,

Places available

4 places currently available

GWO Basic Safety Training Refresher

Duration:

3 days starting January 14th 2020

Modules:

Fire Awareness
First Aid
Manual Handling
Working at Height

Training location:

Texas State Technical College, Sweetwater, Texas,

Places available

4 places currently available

GWO Basic Safety Training

Duration:

4 days starting January 21st 2020

Modules:

Fire Awareness
First Aid
Manual Handling
Working at Height

Training location:

Texas State Technical College, Sweetwater, Texas,

Places available

6 places currently available

GWO Basic Safety Training

Duration:

5 days starting February 10th 2020

Modules:

Fire Awareness
First Aid
Manual Handling
Working at Height

Training location:

Texas State Technical College, Sweetwater, Texas,

Places available

7 places currently available

Iowa course availability

The fourth course coming up will be scheduled in Iowa at Iowa Lakes Community College. Starting on Tuesday January 14th 2020 this will be a full GWO Basic Safety Training refresher course for any technicians that need to renew their accreditations. The course will cover all the onshore modules; First Aid, Fire Awareness, Manual Handling and Working at Height. Running over 3 days.

Full course details

GWO Basic Safety Training Refresher

Duration:

3 days starting January 14th 2020

Modules:

Fire Awareness
First Aid
Manual Handling
Working at Height

Training location:

Iowa Lakes Community College, Estherville, Iowa.

Places available

4 places currently available

GWO Basic Safety Training

Duration:

5 days starting February 10th 2020

Modules:

Fire Awareness
First Aid
Manual Handling
Working at Height

Training location:

Iowa Lakes Community College, Estherville, Iowa.

Places available

6 places currently available

STL USA’s GWO Basic Safety training in Iowa and Texas offers best in class GWO training. STL USA”s trainers are widely considered some of the most competent and experienced operating in the USA. STL USA’s years of global experience delivering GWO training ensures trainees leave every course 100% confident in what they have learnt.

Get in touch with us now to discuss your requirements and book a course.

Welcome to our new VP Sales & Marketing Ben Dickens

Welcome to our new VP Sales & Marketing Ben Dickens.

As STL USA continues to grow and develop as the USA’s premier provider of GWO accredited training courses we welcome our new VP Sales & Marketing to the company. Ben Dickens has a long career history in enterprise sales and marketing. Working for and with some of the largest global companies. Latterly Ben has worked with a number of fast growing scale-up businesses with responsibility for customers and growth.

Ben’s remit at STL is to continue driving our business in the North America. This will include opening new training centers, developing our core business offer and working closely with our customers big and small to ensure they continue to receive best in market training solutions.

“I’m excited to be joining STL USA at a pivotal pint in their growth. Wind energy in the USA is booming, coupled to the fast pace of adoption of GWO standards in all areas of the sector. These factors combined with STL’s market leading offer put us in prime position to be the trainer of choice across the USA. My job is to ensure that happens and that we continue to deliver a service that sets us apart from our competitors.”

Ben Dickens VP Sales & Marketing

Ben joins us at a time when we are actively opening new training facilities, have recently launched our onsite offer and are cementing our position in the USA market as the leading provider of GWO training.

“We are very pleased that Ben has joined us at this crucial time in STL USA’s growth. He brings a wealth of experience and modern know how to the sales and marketing process however it is his proven ability to build lasting relationships that should see him make a success of this role and in turn successful establish an exciting future for STL USA.”

Bob Dickens, Global Chairman Safety Technology

Please contact us for more information, press enquiries, quotes and images.

New Kansas City GWO training venue

STL USA are pleased to announce the addition of a new Kansas City GWO training venue.

The new Kansas City GWO training center will initially offer GWO Working at Height training.

Technicians taking the GWO Working at Height course will be able to demonstrate:

knowledge of hazards and risks associated with working at heights, specific to a WTG
understanding of current national legislation regarding working at heights.
correct identification of PPE, including identification of European/Global standard markings e.g. harness, hard hat, lanyards, etc.
the knowledge and skills to correctly inspect, service, store and don the relevant PPE, e.g. harness, lanyards, fall arresters and work positioning equipment.
correct use of the relevant PPE, e.g. harnesses lanyards, fall arresters and work positioning equipment. This includes correct identification of anchor points and correct ladder conduct.
correct use of evacuation devices.
how to approach rescue situations in WTGs and use rescue equipment efficiently.

We are now taking bookings for the center, follow the link below to find out more.

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Introducing onsite GWO training

We’re pleased to announce STL USA as the first GWO training provider to offer onsite training services in the USA.

Onsite training allows us to increase the flexibility of STL USA’s GWO training solutions. The solution is very simple, STL can now certify a client site for training purposes and then train technicians directly on the equipment they maintain.

The USA is a big country and whilst it has some of the best training facilities in the world it can be logistically challenging to send technicians across country for training, especially when it takes them away from their vital work. Onsite is therefore the perfect training option for smaller teams and technicians working in areas a long way from training centres. Subject to an initial risk assesment and certification which can happen a few days before or on the day training starts if we don’t encounter any surprises, both first time trainees on GWO and technicians refreshing their accreditations can be trained.

The ability to train directly on the equipment used everyday provides trainees with an an “in-country” knowledge of safety applications tailored to their specific environment. However as with all our GWO training courses this doesn’t mean they are only accredited to work on their own turbines the accreditation is universal.

Running an onsite course couldn’t be easier:

STL trainers come to your site
STL completes a full risk assessment with the customer to ensure candidate and trainer safety to complete the works on site and ensuring GWO standards are met.
STL issues the relevant accreditation certificates subject to successfully passing the course

Courses last the same amount of time as those run at STL’s training centers with the following Basic Safety Training modules on offer:

Working at Height
Fire Awareness
Manual Handling
First Aid onsite

If you’d like to talk to us about how we can “come to you” to run GWO training get in touch via the link below:

Updates to GWO training standards

GWO training standards are regularly updated. The most recent took place on July 1st this year. We explore what this means for technicians seeking accreditation and those renewing.

GWO standards are continually improving ensuring that all modules are at the cutting edge of safety and process. With a recent update taking place on the 1st of July this year we thought it was a great opportunity to explore what this means from a trainer and technician perspective and how this might affect your GWO training and accreditations.

What’s changed?

GWO training standards are frequently updated. Both BST and BTT have recently been updated, moving from version 11 and version 4 respectively to 12 and 5. Training providers, that’s us, can continue to use the old standard for a 3 month grace period, which ended on July the 1st this year, at which point delivery needs to move to the new version.

How does this affect technicians?

It’s important to know whether your training provider is delivering the correct standard. Outside of the grace period accreditations to obsolete standards with be considered non-compliant and this affects your ability to work at GWO accredited locations. As the grace, or handover, period has now finished all courses should be delivered to BST v12 or BTT v5.

Is STL compliant?

In a word, yes. It’s of paramount importance to STL USA that we are delivering training to the correct training standard and are completely compliant with the GWO in respect of this.

When is the next round of updates?

GWO regularly review and update the training standards with the next round scheduled for the second half of 2020 and first half of 2021. We’ll ensure to keep you informed of developments via the website and social media.

Should I worry about compliance?

As we’ve mentioned it’s important to verify if you’re trainer is delivering the correct version of the BST or BTT. You can be assured that this is the case with STL USA courses but we can’t speak for other providers. If in doubt or if you have questions please reach out to us and we can hopefully help.

Book a GWO training course

American Wind Week

This week is American Wind Week, an opportunity to celebrate wind energy and demonstrate how wind energy works for all Americans.

The AWEA (American Wind Energy Association) hosted the inaugural “American Wind Week” in 2017 in celebration of wind power emerging as America’s No. 1 source of renewable energy. This quickly became an annual event where wind companies and supporters host a wide variety of events around the country to show how wind works for all Americans.

Each year in August, elected officials will visit wind farms and factories across the country to show their support. It’s an initiative that STL USA is 100% behind without a wind industry we wouldn’t have anyone to provide GWO training to!

Some of the great stories from American Wind Week

New York celebrates Wind Week

New jobs encourage young New Mexicans to stay in the state

There’s a ton of news over on the AWEA’s news feed just follow the link here.

The key themes of American Wind Week 2019

Each day through wind week we’ve been focusing on a different aspect of wind energy. We’ve covered wind’s contribution to rural communities, job creation, jobs for ex service men and woman and the reduction in carbon emissions. Head over to our social to see more.

Wind week is a brilliant initiative by the AWEA and we hope to be a part of it for years to come.