Offshore Wind Companies (OWCs) should ensure that all personnel involved in leadership, development, implementation, and management of the governance system, as well as in planning and carrying out lifting operations and supporting tasks such as risk assessment, inspection, and audit, have and maintain the necessary competencies for their roles. They should also have access to lifting subject matter expertise and ensure that those responsible for defining and assessing required competencies are themselves competent. Furthermore, OWCs must take the competence of personnel into account when conducting risk assessments and planning lifting operations to ensure safety and effective operational management.

Offshore Wind Companies (OWCs) should ensure that senior management demonstrates strong safety leadership by setting clear expectations and providing positive examples of safe attitudes and behaviors. They should ensure that everyone involved in lifting operations has their roles, responsibilities, and associated competencies clearly defined, communicated, and understood. Roles and responsibilities should be established at a high level in corporate or regional lifting procedures, with specific details for individual lifts outlined in lower-level documentation such as lift plans. For each lift, one person must be designated as in charge, and all personnel should understand that they have both a duty and the right to stop the lift if they perceive an imminent danger.

Offshore Wind Companies (OWCs) should identify, document, and implement appropriate stakeholder engagement for all work processes and establish systems, processes, and agreements to ensure effective information sharing between all parties, including both the reasons behind decisions and the information itself.

Offshore Wind Companies (OWCs) should categorise all lifts.

Offshore Wind Companies (OWCs) should ensure that a suitable and sufficient risk assessment is prepared and documented for every lift, regardless of its category. These risk assessments should be carried out by personnel with competence appropriate to the lifting operation and the assessment process, and should actively involve expertise from frontline lifting teams. Additionally, risk assessments must be tailored and regularly updated to accurately reflect the specifics of each lift, taking into account its operational and environmental context.

Offshore Wind Companies (OWCs) should ensure that a documented lift plan is prepared for every lift, with the content and level of detail appropriate to the lift category, and that a permit-to-work system is available for use with higher-hazard lifts or when other work is taking place in the vicinity of the lift.

Offshore Wind Companies (OWCs) should apply human performance principles throughout the development and implementation of the lifting governance system, plan and conduct lifting operations to ensure effective communication and a clear understanding of responsibilities, and take proactive steps to prevent complacency from developing among personnel.

Offshore Wind Companies (OWCs) should ensure that exclusion zones are established around each lifting or landing area, that any stored energy is identified in the lift plan with controls implemented to keep personnel out of the line of fire or danger zone, and that operations follow the G+ Dropped Loads guidance.

Offshore Wind Companies (OWCs) should ensure that lifting equipment is designed, reviewed, and accepted according to safety-by-design principles, involving all relevant parties and their lifting specialists where appropriate. Equipment must be suitable for its intended lift, used according to standards and Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) instructions, and maintained, inspected, and operated to ensure safety, integrity, and reliability. Inspections should be performed by appropriately independent personnel or qualified third parties at required intervals, with all findings recorded and analysed to support continual improvement.

Offshore Wind Companies (OWCs) should have clear criteria and procedures for managing both planned and reactive changes, as well as well-defined processes for conducting technical due diligence (TDD) checks on new equipment and work processes.

Offshore Wind Companies (OWCs) should keep their governance system under systematic review and revision, establishing processes to detect warning signals, capture and share lessons learned, and identify opportunities to improve safety. They should share lessons both across the organization and the wider industry, systematically identify potential consequences of incidents, flag high-potential incidents, and implement verification systems to assess the effectiveness of risk controls. Competent personnel should schedule and conduct periodic audits and reviews to ensure continuous improvement.