Hi My name is William HSE Advisor. Offshore Wind project. .After doing research and unearthing many conflicting opinions on procedure , safe working distance criteria for working on wind farm offshore ,can anyone shed some definitive guidance on this? That is ,when should the field / tower be restricted during the presence of electrical storms in the distance. I have 20 miles then 25 & even 30 miles away then restrict activities. As the project is in Germany I have no assistance or / site rules laid out by client. Hope some when with some practical experience in this are can help. Regards William

I personally don't know, but the Health and Safety Executive do have both offshore and renewables departments who I would like to think might be able to advise.

I think the 'local rules' for this issue are linked to how often lightning is a problem. Certainly I know that in Singapore, where it's common, they can have quite sophisticated local instruments on a construction site that measure build up of charge, and are used to maximise working time but still ensure people move to safe locations before lightning strikes. I've never heard of such a system here in UK where the investment wouldn't usually be seen as justified, and so the very conservative 'rules' you've mentioned would be typical.

Sorry you may already have it the above links... I think Part 4 of IEC 62305 gives guidance on distances which may help...I have some other stuff in the COMAH context buried somewhere give me a shout if I am anywhere close to helping..