Unprecedented growth in offshore wind accompanied by a rise in injury rates

The G+ Offshore Wind Health and Safety Organisation, based at the Energy Institute, has today published its 2024 Incident Data Report, providing a comprehensive overview to date of health and safety performance across the global offshore wind sector.

The report, now in its twelfth year and covering data from G+ member sites, documents a year of unprecedented growth for the industry, with 79 million work hours reported - a 27% increase on 2023. This expansion was accompanied by a rise in both the Total Recordable Injury Rate (TRIR), up 7% to 2.93, and the Lost Time Injury Frequency (LTIF), which increased by 19% to 1.27.

Tragically, the industry recorded a fatality in 2024, underscoring the ongoing challenges in maintaining safety as the sector scales up. The incident involved a worker fatally injured during disassembly work on a monopile up-ending tool, with a second worker hospitalised.

Key findings from the 2024 report include:

• Record work hours: 79 million hours worked, up 27% from 2023.
• Injury statistics: 1 fatality, 99 lost work day injuries, 57 restricted work day injuries, and 74 medical treatment injuries.
• High potential incidents: 245 reports, representing 12% of all incidents.
• Jack-up vessels/barges: accounted for 14% of all injuries, with incidents up 42% from 2023.
• Development sites: saw the highest number of injury incidents reported to date, with a 75% increase year-on-year.
• Manual handling: remains the leading cause of injuries, with 121 incidents reported.

New for 2024, the Incident Data Report includes member data for two new countries – Finland and India – adding to the reporting covering elsewhere in Europe, Asia, Australia, and the United States. G+ has also introduced preliminary analysis of injury nature and body part affected, paving the way for more granular reporting in 2025.

Commenting on the report, G+ Chair and Senior Vice President QHSE at Ørsted, Lisbeth Frømling said:

“The continued growth of the offshore wind sector is a testament to our industry’s commitment to the energy transition, but it also brings new and evolving risks. The increase in high potential incidents and the tragic fatality this year remind us that we must never be complacent and I extend my deepest sympathies to all those affected.

“Transparency and learning from our shared data are at the heart of G+’s mission to drive continuous improvement in health and safety. I urge all industry stakeholders to engage with this report, reflect on its findings, and work collaboratively to ensure that every worker returns home safely.”

Energy Institute Chief Executive Dr Nick Wayth CEng FEI added:

“The Energy Institute is proud to support G+ in delivering this vital resource for the offshore wind industry. The insights provided by this year’s report are invaluable for identifying trends, understanding risks, and informing targeted interventions.

“As the sector continues to expand globally, it is essential that safety standards keep pace. The Energy Institute and G+ remain committed to working with the wider industry to foster an ever-strengthened culture of safety and continuous learning.”

Setup in partnership with the Energy Institute, G+ works internationally to tackle health and safety issues in the industry through four main work programmes: incident data reporting, good practice guidelines, safe by design and learning from incidents.

The G+ Offshore Wind Health and Safety Organisation, comprises thirteen leading operators and WTG OEMs: bp, Corio Generation, EDF Renewables, Equinor, Iberdrola, Ocean Winds, Ørsted, RWE, Siemens Gamesa, SSE, TotalEnergies, Vattenfall and Vestas – as well as an expanding array of Associate members.

With expanding operations in Asia Pacific and the G+ 2025 Stakeholder Forum taking place in South Korea, G+ is continuing to utilise the lessons learned from high potential incidents that occurred during the early stages of offshore wind in Europe to develop good practice guidelines, in multiple languages, to support safe offshore wind operations around the world.

As part of the drive to ensure lessons learned from these incidents are made freely available, G+ is continuing to make safety incident lessons available through Toolbox, the Energy Institute’s free-to-use incident lessons platform.

The full 2024 G+ Incident Data Report, including interactive dashboards and access to the Toolbox incident learning platform, is available on the G+ website.

Notes for editors

1. For media enquiries, please contact Ruaraidh Swainson on 020 7467 7100 or [email protected]
2. The (embargoed) 2024 Incident Data Report is available to view at: https://www.gplusoffshorewind.com/?a=1651634
3. G+ is the global health and safety organisation for the offshore wind industry.
   The Energy Institute provides the secretariat and supports the ongoing work of the G+.
   We bring together business leaders, health and safety experts and organisations operating in the offshore wind industry to drive good practice and promote world-class safety performance across the sector.
   Through an evidence based approach, we ensure key emerging risks are mitigated through co-operation and shared learnings, aiming for the highest levels of health and safety standards being pursued throughout the life cycle of offshore wind farms.
   We engage on important industry matters by facilitating discussion and bringing together industry stakeholders to speak with one voice for the offshore wind industry.
4. The Energy Institute (EI) is the chartered professional membership body for people who work across the world of energy. Our purpose is creating a better energy future for our members and society by accelerating a just global transition.
   We do this by attracting and developing a diverse future energy workforce; convening expertise and evidence to inform energy decision making; and enabling industry to make energy safer, more efficient and lower carbon.