I've been concerned about safely working with wind energy since 1976 when I nearly killed myself taking down a 1930s-era windcharger. While wind energy is an environmentally beneficial technology--and that's the reason we need to use it--it can and has killed. Consequently, I've been tracking fatal accidents in wind energy since I wrote an obituary for a colleague, Terry Mehrkam, in 1981. For this reason, my books on wind energy have always included a section on safety.
I've been alerted to an error in the second edition of Wind Power (2004): Renewable Energy for Home Farm and Business.[more]
Update: The most current database for the number of fatal accidents in the wind industry. Below is a summary table from the spreadsheet. Note that there are four other tabs not reproduced here. . . [more]
"Two Hurt in Turbine Accident" blared the headline in the Bakersfield Californian on Saturday, 23 October, 1999.[more]
Any wind turbine and tower that cannot be safely lowered to the ground for servicing should have a fall arresting system for ascending, descending, and working atop the tower, a sturdy work platform,...[more]
I knew Terry Mehrkam. I wrote about him. I also wrote his obituary. I hope I never have to write another obituary about someone working on a wind turbine.[more]
Robert Skarski died in 1993 while installing a small wind turbine at his Illinois home. He was killed when the tower he was on buckled and fell to the ground. [more]
On October 16, 2003 a 25-year old technician fell inside a 100-meter tall Enercon E66 tower, struck his head, and died according to an account in a local German newspaper. The man, unnamed in the...[more]
