Launching Thrive USA, ATT’s new program designed for the American labour market
It’s hard to believe that it’s four years since we launched the Thrive Safety Leadership Center on the Humber with our partners, Ørsted. The renewable energy giant’s £1.4 million investment at the Immingham site represented not just a commitment to the safety of all those working on the Hornsea offshore wind projects, but also a legacy for the industry.
Since Thrive opened, it has, well, continued to thrive. Around 2,000 Ørsted personnel have experienced the day and over 4,000 participants from other organizations have attended.
With the advent of Hornsea 3, ATT created a new iteration of Thrive with an onshore civils focus to match the development phase of the new project. The feedback from participants continues to be phenomenally positive.
From the Humber to New York
Now we are taking Thrive to the United States with a mobile version designed for the American labour market. While the offshore wind sector is less mature than in Europe, auctions in 2022 for leases to develop waters off California, North Carolina and New York, have put the United States’ ambition of installing 30 GW of offshore wind by 2030 within reach.
In July 2024 ATT delivered a pilot of our program Thrive USA in Boston, Massachusetts, for offshore wind developers investing in the East Coast. We were delighted to welcome members of G+ Americas (Global Offshore Wind Health and Safety Organisation), Siemens Gamesa, RWE, Ocean Winds, Siemens Energy, Jacobs, National Grid, Vestas, Equinor, Corio Generation, BP, Tronox, Keller and Weather Guard Lightning Tech, the presenters of the Uptime Wind Energy podcast, who interviewed Adam and myself for a future episode.
Consequently, we will be rolling out the Thrive USA program across the United States from the autumn – or should we say the fall! We have adjusted the language and created a narrative to reflect the American culture and experience, but participants can expect the same high-quality production values and depth of engagement and participation that we deliver at our centers in the UK and our mobile programs across the world.
The universal language of safety leadership
However, at the heart of ATT’s programs is the creation of a safety culture where everyone is a leader, responsible for the safety of themselves and others, and that remains a constant wherever you are in the world. The communication tools and techniques that people take away at the end of the day apply in any language.
The UK’s health and safety record compares very favourably with our European neighbours sitting near the bottom of the league table with a rate of 0.38 workplace fatalities per 100,000 full-time equivalent (FTE) workers in 2022. While there are many factors which make direct comparisons problematic, in the United States the rate is 3.7 per 100,000 FTEs, a rise of 0.1 per cent on 2021.
While we have delivered many mobile programs in the United States before, Thrive USA represents a significant investment by ATT in a new landscape. We’re looking forward to establishing our team in New York City and welcoming our American colleagues to experience ATT’s safety leadership programs.
