ESTA is pushing for the onshore wind industry to rapidly adopt the measures in the Best Practice Guide for the Transport and Installation of Onshore WTG Systems following a recent crane accident in Sweden.
The guide – which is available as a free download from the ESTA Website here, was published last year but ESTA feels the industry has been slow to recognise its importance.
David Collett, ESTA President and Managing Director of the Collett Group, said that ESTA does not have sufficient information to comment on the cause of individual incidents.
But he added: “It is patently clear that the whole industry would be both safer and more efficient if there was earlier and better communication along the supply chain and if the industry would adopt the measures contained in best practice guide.
“The wind industry is growing fast and becoming a major part of Europe’s energy mix – and the turbines themselves are becoming ever larger.
“As a result, there has never been a better time for the wind industry to improve its safety systems and practices during the construction, transport and installation of onshore projects. It can, literally, be a matter of life and death.”
The Best Practice Guide discussions were led by ESTA with the support of VDMA Power Systems, the part of the German Engineering Federation whose members include the major turbine manufacturers, and the crane manufacturers through FEM, the European Materials Handling Federation.