How do I become a Global Wind Organisation Training Provider?

To become a certified training provider, organisations must go through an audit process performed by an accredited Certification Body. The Certification Body must fulfill specific requirements and be listed under Approved Certification Bodies on the GWO website, otherwise the application will be rejected.

The purpose of this process is to verify that the organisation can consistently deliver training to the relevant GWO Standards. The process is described in the document Criteria for Training Providers 

What are the requirements for becoming a GWO certified training provider?

The requirements for becoming a GWO certified training provider can be summarized in four pillars:

1.      Physical resources: Demonstrate your resources will ensure consistent delivery of training and assessment in accordance with GWO Training Standard(s).

2.      Management systems: An effective and formally documented system is required to assure quality course content, safety of training and assessment in compliance with GWO criteria.

3.      Staff resources and training: Your organisation's staffing and resources must follow national legislation, applicable standards and regulations.

4.      Assessment: Demonstrate your training and assessment has been done in an orderly manner and evaluated properly.

When fulfilled, the previously described audit process with a Certified Body must be completed.

How do we find a certification body?

Only those certification bodies listed on the GWO Web Site are permitted to certify a GWO training facility. If you choose a certification body that is not listed on our site your certification will be rejected.

How does the process proceed after receiving the certificate?

Once a certification body has certified a training provider, they will perform surveillance audits at regular intervals. This framework is designed to ensure training providers maintain the expected quality within their training, personnel, training environment and the equipment.

How much does it cost to become a GWO Training Provider?

1. The annual licensing fee is €650. This covers the cost of appearing on our Interactive Training Provider Map, and access to the WINDA database for training records.

2. Training Providers have to register all training performed and upload a training record in WINDA (the Wind Industry Database) upon completion of training.

3. When you deliver a GWO course (module), a record of the training must be uploaded to WINDA. The fee for this transaction is calculated according to the United Nations Human Development Index on an individual country-by-country basis.
4. The price for uploading a record to WINDA ranges from approximately €5.50 to €9.50 for each module. WINDA automatically calculates the fee according to each training provider's registered location. Click here for a price list for WINDA Credits.
5. For example, if a training provider is based in the United States of America, the 2021 WINDA Upload fee is €9.26 per module. 3 x GWO modules (e.g. Working at Height, First Aid and Manual Handling), would result in a cost of 3 x €9.26 = €27.78

The On-Boarding Process in Detail

In order to become a GWO certified Training Provider, you must be audited against the Requirements for Training Providers by a Certification Body that complies with the Requirements the Certification Body. GWO does not certify Training Providers – only third-party certification bodies do.

Please see a list of GWO approved certification bodies here. Due to our rules of competition compliance we don’t recommend a particular certification body.

You can find all information on the certification process and all Standards and Requirements on our website: http://www.globalwindsafety.org/

There are four elements to the GWO Certification audit process:

Once you have completed the audit and received a certificate, the certification body will send a copy of said certificate to us. We will then need you to send us the certificate number, the company’s billing address, VAT number and name and e-mail of the person responsible for invoices. We will then send you an invoice for the annual fee, which is set at 650 Euro. Once we have received the fee, we will add your company to the database of certified training providers and grant you access to the special “Certified Training Provider logo”.

In addition to the annual fee, GWO has implemented a global database of training records for course participants who have been trained by a GWO certified training provider. The database is called WINDA. The training provider will be required to upload records of each training module into WINDA. There is a fee associated with uploading records which is derived from the UN's Human Development Index of each country.

Please note, GWO certification lasts for a period of two years during which you will be subject to surveillance audits by your certification body to check the continuing quality and compliance of your service delivery. After your certification period is over, your site or sites must be re-audited by a certification body according to the current requirements.

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