Technician falls from gangway at Dogger Bank Wind Farm

What happened

A technician was transferring on foot from a service operations vessel to a transition piece at Dogger Bank Wind Farm, off the north-east coast of England, using a telescopic walk-to-work gangway about 25 to 30 metres above the sea. The gangway is reported to have retracted suddenly. The technician lost balance and fell into the sea, and was rescued after about six to eight minutes in the water. Construction at the wind farm has been ongoing since 2022. A compensation claim has been issued against the technician's former employer, GE Energy UK. The date of the fall is not reported.

Contributing factors

The cause is not established in the source. The technician alleges that he did not see a red light, hear an alarm or hear a warning before the gangway moved. It is also alleged that there was a potential fault with the gangway and that supervision and communication were lacking, so the automatic disconnection was not overridden manually.

Lessons learned

1. Motion-compensated gangways should give a clear audible and visual warning before automatic retraction, or be taken out of service until they can.
2. Personnel transfers at height need clear supervision, communication and a workable manual override.
3. Operators should review gangway arrangements after safety notices on these systems.

Source

stewartslaw.com