Identification and assessment of occupational health and safety risks throughout the life cycle of onshore wind power plants

The current state of global modes of production has the potential to inflict irreversible damage on our environment unless necessary measures are implemented. In order to avert this ecological catastrophe, developed nations, Turkey included, have become signatories to the Paris Climate Agreement and the European Union Green Transformation Project. These accords incentivize countries to support initiatives focusing on renewable energy resources. Geopolitical risks stemming from the Russia-Ukraine conflict, disruptions in energy imports, and the unsustainable reliance on foreign underground and aboveground energy resources underscore the necessity for nations to expedite their transition to utilizing their own renewable energy sources to meet their energy needs. Renewable energy projects, particularly Wind Power Plants (WPPs), have garnered substantial investments worldwide. Similarly, Turkey's interest in WPPs has surged in recent years, leading to an uptick in power plant installations in alignment with provided incentives. The construction, installation, maintenance, repair, and operational phases of WPPs inherently carry occupational health and safety risks. Hence, it is imperative to identify and evaluate potential occupational health and safety risks that may arise during the operational lifespan of WPPs. The objective of this thesis is to pinpoint and assess such risks within the lifecycle of onshore WPPs. In this study, potential occupational health and safety risks throughout the lifecycle of WPPs were identified via an extensive literature review. These identified risks were subsequently categorized into four phases: (1) Transportation, (2) Installation, (3) Commissioning, and (4) Operation-Maintenance-Repair. The significance levels of these occupational health and safety risks were assessed through expert opinions.