In response to the development of offshore wind power and the resulting work hazards, the OSHA, Ministry of Labor's organized a delegation to investigate offshore wind power and related installations in the UK and on June 10, 2019, General Director Tzou Tzu-lien of OSHA signed a memorandum of information exchange and cooperation for workplace safety and health with Dr. David Snowball, Acting Chief Executive of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), in his London HSE office, to establish a partnership.
The Ministry of Labor said that the development of green technology is currently one of the country's main national strategies, especially offshore wind farms, which are the most critical development projects. It is estimated that by 2025 Taiwan will reach a generating capacity of 5.7 GW and add approximately 20,000 jobs. However, the construction, operation and maintenance of offshore wind farms involve special shore, ocean and underground environments which are prone to falling, falling objects, collapse, electrocution, drowning and other disasters. Therefore, OSHA has set up an interdepartmental technical platform for offshore wind farm operational safety to host seminars on safety technologies for the operation of offshore wind farms. At the same time, OSHA formulated the Safety Guidelines for Offshore Wind Farm Operations and the Required Reference Manual for Supervision and Inspection of Offshore Wind Farms based on international standards and actual experience of developers, in order to supervise public institutions to implement self-checks and risk assessment.
he Ministry of Labor further pointed out that Taiwan established a substantive cooperative relationship with the UK’s HSE with the joint signing of this memorandum of understanding and will establish channels for communications and consultations to learn from practical experience and safety supervision of offshore wind farms in the UK to improve both Taiwan’s offshore wind power policy and supervision of occupation safety and health, and promote the positive development of the industry environment.
* Key words: Offshore Wind Power Generation, Offshore Wind Farm Operational Safety, Health and Safety Executive (HSE)
