Global Wind Organisation is a non-profit industry association founded and owned by its members who are drawn from globally leading renewable energy manufacturers, owners and operators.

Key Points about GWO:

• Training Standards: GWO develops and maintains training standards that are recognized globally. These standards cover various aspects of safety and technical training required for wind turbine technicians
• Global Reach: GWO-certified training providers operate in over 55 countries, ensuring widespread access to standardized training
• Safety Focus: The primary goal is to create an injury-free work environment by setting common international standards for safety training and emergency procedures

The GWO BST stands for Global Wind Organisation Basic Safety Training. This training is designed to equip individuals working in the wind industry with essential safety skills and knowledge. The GWO BST includes several modules:

1. First Aid: The aim of the BST First Aid Module is to enable participants, through theoretical and practical training, to recognise signs and symptoms of life threating situations and administer safe and effective first aid in the wind turbine industry/WTG environment to save lives and prevent further injury, until the casualty can be handed over to the next level of care.
2. Manual Handling: The aim of this module is to reduce the risk of musculoskeletal injuries for wind technicians in the wind industry and enable participants to perform their tasks and activities in the safest possible way when working in a wind turbine environment.
3. Fire Awareness: The aim of this module is to enable the participants to prevent fires, make appropriate judgements when evaluating a fire, manage evacuation of personnel and ensure all are safely accounted for in the event of an unmanageable fire. If the incident is judged to be safe, the participants should be able to efficiently extinguish an initial fire by using basic handheld firefighting equipment.
4. Working at Heights: The aim of this module is to enable the participants, through theoretical and practical training, to use basic personal protective equipment, work safety at height and perform comprehensive basic rescue from height in a remote wind turbine environment.  This course is not designed to test the participants’ capability and aptitude for working at height, i.e. It is not a test for fear of heights.
5. Sea Survival: The aims of this module are, by theoretical and practical training, to give the participants the ability to act safely and responsibly and to take the correct preventive actions in all aspects of offshore operations from shore to installation vessel (or WTG) and vice versa. This is both during normal operations and in an offshore wind energy environment emergency.

In short yes, the only prerequisite is having a Winda I.D, medically fit and physically able to participate in the course. You are required to sign a medical declaration at the start of the courses.

These are not overly physical courses but require some climbing vertical ladders and descending in a harness, immersion in water and a degree of manual handling.

Note that there is a max body mass weight (140kg) that is allowable by equipment manufacturers that we must adhere to.

Winda is a global database designed by the Global Wind Organisation (GWO) to verify the training status of individuals certified in GWO safety training standards. It allows users to register, log in, and search for training providers and delegates within the wind industry.

To get a winda I.D go to here Welcome - WINDA and create a profile, we strongly suggest you use a personal email address as your part of your registration. This means you can check on the status of your courses and refresh before they expire. Winda will send you emails telling you when a registered course is running out and needs to be renewed.

All Gwo Bst/Art/Efa have a 2-year expiry date.

You can refresh your GWO training up to two months prior to its expiry.

If you renew it within this period, you'll maintain the original certification date. However, if you renew it more than two months before expiry, the new date of certification will be used.

Work at Height/ Manual Handling/ Fire Awareness/ First aid are all mandatory for onsite work.

The only exception is Sea Survival where, if you are working onshore (not at sea) you are not required to hold it. This is why we have 4 & 5 module BST packages to suit work environments.

No, however, they offer a higher and more in-depth syllabus that takes you deeper into the complexities of WTG and the problems associated with remote work and first response and rescue.

Most major manufacturers & clients will require these as standard.

Typically, offshore work has been supported by more thorough first aid training/equipment for many years. The remote nature and distance from medical care have led to teams being trained in GWO EFA and having more complete first aid trauma care kits. This was to support a casualty’s needs until emergency services can get to them.

Onshore has traditionally been seen as less remote and closer to emergency services but the reality is that it can be as isolated if not even more so than being at sea. In response to several serious incidents a HSE letter dated 22/08/205 has underlined the need for adequate first aid provision for workers on onshore and offshore ‘energy structures’ The outcome of this is that the HSE considers GWO EFA now as part of the standard training for workers on WTG whether that is onshore/offshore. In addition to training the letter also underlined the requirements for actual EFA equipment (O², analgesia, adjuncts, splints, AED, stretchers etc) to be onsite at the work site.

If you need any further guidance on this, please get in contact.