David Griffiths, Head of Health, Safety and Environment at SSE Renewables, has been appointed as the next Chair of the G+ Global Offshore Wind Health and Safety Organisation. Supporting David is Lisbeth Norup Frømling, current Vice President QHSE at Ørsted, in the position of Vice Chair.
An industry expert, David brings 25 years of experience in health and safety to his new role as Chair of the G+ Offshore Wind Health and Safety Organisation board. With over 5 years as a G+ Board Director, David will be leading the expansion of G+ as it builds reputation in the North America and Asia Pacific regions, addressing global issues in the offshore wind health and safety industry.
This structural change of the G+ Board brings exciting potential to the organisation. Embarking on his new role, G+ asked David 3 questions about his goals and stance going forward:
What do you value most about the G+?
Where do I start! There are many aspects of G+ that I value. It goes without saying that the people involved are fantastic and really care about what they do. The time and effort they put in as volunteers is amazing. The community that has been created extends across the world, which provides an amazing reach across the offshore wind sector. The combination of our full and associate members ensures we have a rich data set from projects and operations across the globe, this data and our associated analytics is a very powerful combination, which ensures we focus on the right areas and directly influences our work programmes. I think the collective high-quality output from a forum such as G+ ensures we provide the highest quality material to support safe delivery of our offshore wind projects and their long-term operation.
What do you hope to achieve as Chair of the G+ Global Offshore Wind Health and Safety Organisation?
I’m really passionate about getting people home safely. Without doubt it would be to continue to reduce harm in the offshore wind sector. To do this I’d like to ensure that both the Board and the respective Focal Groups get much closer to our offshore personnel. We are here to serve them and ensure we get them home safely. A big part of that has to be direct engagement through all phases of a wind farm lifecycle, coupled with innovation, we need to ensure we make best use of our data analytics and drive innovation in supporting technology development to focus on our sector hazards and ultimately keep our people safe.
What was your main motivation to accept this role?
My main motivation was to ensure I personally continued to contribute to getting our people home safely. The sector has seen massive expansion and continues to grow at pace. We will have more personnel working in the sector, so we need to redouble our efforts. I’ve been a member of the Board for over 5 years and Vice Chair for the last 3 years. I have directly experienced the great work the G+ has achieved internationally, as well as SSE Renewables directly benefitting as a member. It gives me a clear sense of purpose and as important, belonging. In addition, I also fully intend to continue to promote our active engagement with the international regulators and key trade bodies to ensure we have a consistent position.