Diver killed during construction of Riffgat offshore wind farm

What happened

A diver was killed during construction of the 108MW Riffgat wind farm in the German North Sea, which is being built by EWE and Enova. According to reports, the diver was working on concrete bases designed to tie cables down to the seabed. The incident occurred in waters 20 metres deep. The source describes it as the third death of a diver on a German offshore wind farm since 2010.

The wind farm uses Siemens 3.6MW turbines. The source also reports that cable installation had earlier been held up by the discovery of Second World War munitions on the seabed, and that the transmission system operator TenneT could not confirm whether the project would meet its July 2013 completion deadline. The source does not give the cause of the death.

Contributing factors

The source does not report a cause of the fatality. It notes that diving remains a high-risk occupation and that casualties on offshore wind sites remain higher than onshore. Delays to cable installation caused by wartime munitions on the seabed are project context in the article and are not linked to the incident.

Lessons learned

1. Diving operations on offshore wind construction sites should have documented life-support, gas supply and emergency procedures that are checked before each dive.
2. Seabed clearance, including checks for unexploded ordnance, should be completed and confirmed before diving tasks are scheduled.
3. Operators should review diving incidents across their projects and share the findings with contractors, since repeated diver fatalities on offshore wind sites point to a recurring hazard.

More lessons on worker safety and safe systems of work, from every incident on the register.

Source

Windpower Monthly (windpowermonthly.com)