Offshore wind energy has been a topic of considerable interest as a feasible source of renewable power in the United States for quite some time. In 2021, a significant milestone was achieved when Vineyard Wind received approval, marking it as the first major offshore wind project in U.S. waters. Since 2023, RMI has been providing support to this project through their medical and Health, Safety, and Environment (HSE) services.
Challenge
When Vineyard Wind first approached RMI in late 2022, they had a challenge. They knew that their contractors going offshore needed to be medically screened and cleared, but the standards were not defined, and very few local resources were available with expertise in this area.
RMI Approach
With RMI’s extensive experience with offshore wind in Europe and oil and gas experience elsewhere, we were aware that Offshore Energies UK (OEUK) was considered the gold standard for offshore medical clearances. However, this presented a problem, as there were no OEUK registered doctors within hundreds of miles of the project site. Fortunately, RMI had encountered this situation previously, and knew just what to do: conduct Remote OEUKs.
Remote OEUK medical examinations are composed of two main components. The first component involves the individual undergoing the medical examination: participating in various hands-on tests and evaluations. The second component entails the individual engaging in a remote conversation with an OEUK doctor via a video call for their OEUK assessment. Utilizing this approach, RMI established an assessment center locally in New Bedford, MA, and created a streamlined approach for accessing our team of OEUK doctors for the remote consultation. This enabled RMI to deliver gold standard medical exams while avoiding costly and time-consuming logistics for the contractors.
Subsequently, RMI has supported Vineyard Wind and their contractors by providing additional medical and HSE services. This included the deployment of offshore medics and HSE advisors, provision of medical advisory services, and execution of supplementary occupational health tests. These tests encompassed the Chester Step Test, urine drug screening, respirator fit testing, and EBS fit-to-train assessments. These comprehensive solutions have established RMI as the leading, all-inclusive provider of medical services for the offshore wind industry in the U.S.
