Basic Safety Training Refresh

The BSTR – Basic Safety Training Refresh course is the official GWO course that certifies the update and renewal of the basic safety skills and emergency response capabilities of technical personnel in wind farms.

If you are a wind farm technician, it’s important to know that the content acquired during Basic Safety Training (BST) needs to be reviewed every two years in order to maintain a valid BST certification.

The BSTR – Basic Safety Training Refresh course (Basic Safety Training Refresh Course) includes the same modules as the Basic Safety Training (BST) course, reflecting the different facets of basic training necessary for safety, prevention, and emergency response when working with wind turbines.

The onshore modality consists of four modules:

• Working at Heights: learn to work safely and efficiently in a wind turbine.
• Manual Handling: learn to handle loads without risking injury.
• Fire Awareness: learn to prevent and extinguish fires in a wind turbine.
• First Aid: learn to provide first aid in case of an emergency.

An additional module is added for offshore modality:

• Sea survival: learn to face the specific risks of working offshore and to survive at sea.

If you want to maintain your Basic Safety Training (BST) certification for another 6 months, you can take an online update course for each of the modules.

Working at Heights  Refresh

WAHR

The Working at Heights Refresh course is part of BSTR – Basic Safety Training Refresh and provides you with the knowledge and skills necessary to use personal protective equipment, perform safe work at heights, and respond to emergencies in the environment of wind turbines. The course lasts for 8 hours (one day) and renews your official certification for 24 months.

The Working at Heights Refresh module prepares you to:

• Understand the hazards and risks of working at heights on a wind turbine.
• Understand national legislation regarding working at heights.
• Identify the appropriate personal protective equipment and its marking according to European and/or global standards.
• Inspect, repair, store, and adjust personal protective equipment.
• Use personal protective equipment correctly, including anchor points and ladder behavior.
• Use evacuation devices appropriately.
• Rescue individuals in wind turbines and use rescue equipment efficiently and safely.

Manual Handling Refresh

MHR

The GWO BST Manual Handling Refresh course provides you with the knowledge and skills necessary to avoid musculoskeletal injuries when handling heavy loads, manually or with the help of equipment. The course lasts 3.5 hours (half a day) and renews your official certification for 24 months.

The Manual Handling Refresh module prepares you to:

• Understand the importance of performing work tasks safely and soundly according to the law.
• Identify aspects of work tasks that can increase the risk of muscle or skeletal injuries.
• Understand safe manual handling practices, including correct use of equipment.
• Identify signs and symptoms of injuries from poor manual handling and know how to report them.
• Apply a problem-solving approach to manual handling in a wind turbine.
• Know techniques for reducing manual handling risks.

Fire Awareness Refresh

FAWR

The BST GWO Fire Awareness Refresh course provides you with the knowledge and skills necessary to prevent and understand the main causes that can generate a fire in the environment of wind turbines. You will also learn how to act safely with the available means in an incipient phase in the event of a fire. The course lasts 3.5 hours (half a day) and renews your official certification for 24 months.

The Fire Awareness Refresh module prepares you to:

• Understand the development and spread of fire.
• Understand the causes and hazards of fires in wind turbines.
• Identify signs of fire in a wind turbine.
• Know the contingency plans in a wind turbine, such as smoke detection and emergency escape procedures.
• Act properly upon discovering a fire, using the appropriate firefighting equipment.

First Aid Refresh

FAR

The GWO BST First Aid Refresh course provides you with the necessary knowledge and skills to carry out basic First Aid interventions in the context of working on wind turbines. The course, developed by GWO, is based on the best standards and meets the requirements of the European Resuscitation Council (ERC) and the American Heart Association (AHA). The course has a duration of 4 hours (half a day) and renews your official certification for 24 months.

The First Aid Refresh module prepares you to:

• Understand the importance of providing first aid safely according to the law and the International Resuscitation Council.
• Identify and explain the normal function, signs, and symptoms of injuries and illnesses of the human body.
• Understand the correct order of action in case of an emergency in a wind turbine.
• Apply life-saving first aid using the primary survey C-A-B-C, including the use of an automated external defibrillator.
• Use first aid equipment correctly in a first aid scenario.

Working at Heights and Manual Handling Refresh

WMHR

The Working at Heights & Manual Handling Refresh Course is designed to equip you with the essential knowledge and skills to use basic personal protective equipment, work safely at heights, and perform comprehensive basic rescues from heights in wind turbine environments.

This course emphasizes the importance of positive behavior in manual and ergonomic handling, allowing you to safely perform manual handling tasks. The course lasts 8 hours and renews your official certification for 24 months.

The Working at Heights and Manual Handling Refresh module prepares you to:

• • Properly use basic personal protective equipment for working at heights.
  • Recognize and apply safe practices when working at heights and during manual handling of loads.
  • Perform comprehensive basic rescues from heights in a wind turbine environment.
  • Promote ergonomic and safe behavior during manual handling of loads.
  • Understand and apply relevant contingency plans, including emergency and escape procedures.

Sea Survival Refresh

SSR

The Sea Survival Refresh course is part of BSTR – Basic Safety Training Refresh and provides you with the knowledge and skills necessary to act safely and take the correct preventive actions in all aspects of offshore operations, both during normal operation and in emergency situations. The course has a duration of 6.5 hours (1 day) and renews your official certification for 24 months.

The module of Sea Survival Refresh prepares you to:

• Know the risks and symptoms of hypothermia and drowning.
• Understand the advantages and limitations of common rescue, personal protection, and fall protection equipment used in the offshore wind industry and use them correctly and safely.
• Perform safe transfers from ship to dock, from ship to foundation, and from ship to ship.
• Know emergency and safety procedures in facilities, ships, and wind turbines.
• Know how to use global maritime safety and rescue systems.
• Know the techniques for recovering and providing first aid to a person overboard.
• Apply the evacuation of a wind turbine to water by means of the constant speed descender.
• Know individual and collective survival techniques to improve survival chances in an emergency at sea.

Basic Safety Training Online Partial Refresh

BSTR-P

The Basic Safety Training Online Partial Refresher is a standard developed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This standard is designed to be able to be taught 100% online, initially intended for those technicians whose accreditation is about to expire and who, due to any health measures, cannot attend a conventional refresh course.

Thanks to this new BSTR-P standard, wind turbine technicians can renew their certification for another six months until they are able to take the regular in-person Refresh course.

If you are a wind park technician and need to renew your BSTR certification, the Basic Safety Training Online Partial Refresher is an excellent option for you.