Providing a safe workplace and protecting the environment are fundamental to London Array
A philosophy of ensuring Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) issues are treated with the highest priority dates back to the early days of construction with the implementation and continuous development of an HSE Management System.
Detailed processes were put in place to ensure work activities were planned, managed and executed in such a way that the individuals involved were provided with the correct information to carry out their tasks safely and effectively.
At the peak of construction, more than 60 vessels and almost 1,000 people were involved in building the world’s largest offshore wind farm. Ensuring this intensive activity was carried out safely required not only the careful planning of installation activities but an absolute commitment to health and safety by the London Array team and all our contractors.
By the time construction came to an end, 5.5 million work hours had been spent building the wind farm – peaking at 300,000 per month. During this period, 11 Lost Time Incidents (LTIs) were recorded giving, according to standard industry measures, a Lost Time Injury Frequency Rate of 2.0.
Although no LTI is acceptable, those which occurred were of a minor nature. This high standard of safety performance is one we believe all those working on London Array can be proud of.
This performance was achieved through, among other things:
- The level of commitment to health and safety of London Array and its shareholders.
- Successful sharing of health and safety best practice between the project and all its contractors before and during construction.
- Clear HSE expectations and confirmation of roles and responsibilities for performing tasks being carried out across the whole project.
- Rapid action to improve health and safety behaviour and performance when shortcomings were identified.
- Having representatives on the contractors’ installation and support vessels to act as London Array’s health and safety eyes and ears. This was coupled with the right for anyone to stop work for safety reasons.
- Regular auditing and inspection of vessels, the site and our procedures to ensure all were compliant and being operated/implemented in accordance with requirements.