GWO Basic Safety Training (BST)

The Training

Training overview

Basic Safety Training is the entry point of the GWO wind portfolio and the qualification most wind sites treat as non-negotiable. Across five modules it builds the safety behaviours a technician relies on daily — giving first aid in a remote location, moving safely at height and rescuing a colleague who cannot descend, handling loads correctly in confined spaces, reacting to fire inside a turbine, and, for offshore roles, surviving in water and transferring safely between vessel and structure.

Each module is taught as a mix of theory and supervised practical work, with scenario exercises drawn from real wind industry incidents. Theory is delivered at a maximum instructor-to-participant ratio of 1:12 and practical work at 1:6, so every participant is directly observed while performing the skills rather than simply watching a demonstration.

Modules can be taken individually where a risk assessment identifies the need, or as the full programme. Onshore roles typically take First Aid, Manual Handling, Fire Awareness and Working at Height; Sea Survival is added for offshore work.

What you will learn

• Recognise, assess and prioritise the need for first aid, and give lifesaving first aid until the casualty can be handed to the next level of care
• Work safely at height using fall-protection equipment, and rescue a suspended colleague
• Handle loads correctly in confined turbine spaces and recognise personal physical limits
• Prevent fire, recognise its early signs, and use turbine firefighting equipment correctly
• For offshore roles, survive cold-water immersion and transfer safely between vessel and turbine
• Recognise the limits of your own training, call for help and enable evacuation

Training pathways

Training content

Key knowledge

• Primary survey methodology and the CAB-C structure for a casualty
• The legislation and regulatory framework governing work at height and fire safety
• How fire starts and spreads, and which extinguishing method suits which fire
• Manual handling injury patterns, symptoms and the principles that prevent them
• Cold-water immersion physiology and the body's survival responses
• Suspension trauma, dropped-object hazards and turbine-specific risks

Practical skills

• Performing CPR, controlling bleeding and treating burns, fractures and shock
• Fitting and inspecting a harness, and using lanyards, self-retracting lifelines and vertical fall arrest systems
• Rescuing and lowering a suspended casualty using rescue devices and rigging
• Operating turbine firefighting equipment in scenario exercises
• Righting a life raft and evacuating a crew transfer vessel by entering the water from height

Safety and risk awareness

• Suspension trauma following a fall arrest, and the need for prompt rescue
• Dropped objects in and around the turbine structure
• Fire behaviour in the confined, cable-dense spaces of a nacelle and tower
• Musculoskeletal injury from handling loads in restricted positions
• Cold-water immersion and the hazards of vessel-to-turbine transfer

Competencies

• Act independently in recognising, assessing and prioritising the need for basic first aid
• Use personal fall protective equipment correctly and inspect it before use
• Carry out evacuation and rescue from a turbine structure
• Respond correctly to a fire in a wind turbine
• Take responsibility for recognising your limitations and calling for help

Key learning outcomes

• Emergency response and evacuation
• Rescue from height
• Safe use of personal protective equipment
• Hazard identification in turbine environments
• Offshore survival and transfer

Assessment

Ongoing assessment throughout the course, recorded on the GWO Participant Performance Assessment form. Practical work is delivered at a 1:6 instructor-to-participant ratio so each participant is directly observed.

Important information

• Maximum 8 contact hours per training day.
• Instructor-to-participant ratio of 1:12 for theory and 1:6 for practical work.
• In version 20 of the standard, righting a life raft and evacuating a crew transfer vessel by entering the water from height are performed by the participant.