The report focuses on the crucial role that robotics can play in ensuring the UK is able to fully realise the economic potential of offshore wind. It was delivered in partnership with Innovate UK’s Workforce Foresighting Hub and sponsored by RenewableUK.

There are 40,000 people currently working in the offshore wind industry, but to meet the UK’s Clean Power 2030 targets, this workforce is forecast to increase to at least 74,000. This research urges that a big uplift in the development of robotics and autonomous systems is required alongside a workforce that has the skills to realise its full potential.

Robotics and autonomous systems can provide an efficient alternative to people working offshore - undertaking essential jobs such as scanning the surfaces of turbine blades for critical cracking and erosion (there are currently 30,000 blades at UK offshore and onshore wind farms) or checking the 10 million bolts at these sites for loss of tension and integrity.

The report calls for:

• Development of robotics content in existing college courses and degrees, reskilling workers, and providing more opportunities for on-the-job training;
• Staff development to meet industry needs, and for the industry to work closely with educators to ensure they understand what is required from the workforce;
• Further industry collaboration, recommending that turbine manufacturers and wind farm developers work closely with robotics designers and service providers, to ensure wind farm infrastructure optimises the operation of these advanced systems.

Danielle Portsmouth, future skills manager at ORE Catapult, said: “The UK maintains a world-leading position in terms of offshore wind experience and installed capacity, but without continued focus on maintaining the pipeline of skills and talent into the sector, we risk not being able to maintain this.

“This report is a call to action to everyone operating within the offshore wind industry – it identifies the skills development that needs to be put in place now, so we can realise the benefits of emerging technologies, such as robotics, in the future. Action is needed now to ensure that input from foresighting can be delivered into industry via training and education, in timescales that support UK 2030 targets.”

RenewableUK’s head of skills, Scott Young said: “As this report shows, the UK needs to build the skills and workforce required to accelerate the implementation of robotics and autonomous systems which will enable us to operate and maintain offshore wind farms even more efficiently in the future, and at a lower cost. The UK is set to ramp up offshore wind deployment significantly in the years ahead to strengthen our energy security and meet the Government’s targets of clean power by 2030 and net zero by 2050. We will be building new projects in deeper and more remote waters where using state-of-the-art robotics is the safest option, and therefore the most appropriate course of action. 

“Overall, our world-class offshore wind industry will need to attract tens of thousands of people with the right skills to build the energy system of the future. We are determined to seize this opportunity to create high-quality well-paid jobs in cutting-edge technology, especially in innovative and high-value areas like robotics. This report provides a blueprint to ensure that we develop this crucial capability which will help to maintain the UK’s position as a global leader in offshore wind”.

Debbie Johnson, Head of Innovation Talent and Skills at Innovate UK, said: “The output of each workforce foresighting cycle articulates projected supply chain capabilities, future occupational profiles and offers action-driven recommendations, ensuring the UK remains well-positioned to capitalise on technological innovation.”

The ‘Robotics and Autonomous Systems for Operations and Maintenance in UK Offshore Wind’  can be viewed at Catapult-Foresighting-RAS-Report-Feb-25-v8-SPREADS.pdf

The report was delivered in partnership with Innovate UK’s Workforce Foresighting Hub, that works with the Catapult Network and Centres of Innovation to convene industry employers, educators, and domain specialists to assess capability needs and identify the skills needed to drive future growth.

ore.catapult.org.uk

Industrial parts obsolescence has long posed a challenge often leading to unnecessary waste when older components are discarded prematurely. Coupled with mandatory reporting procedures for the largest organisations under the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), businesses are being driven to find new ways to improve their sustainability credentials and reduce carbon emissions.

The new sustainable impact calculator is displayed next to products on the JC Electronics website and offers a simple means of analysing the climate impact and resource use when choosing a refurbished industrial spare part compared to a brand-new component.

Caspar Botter, chief commercial officer for JC-Electronics explains: "Many companies struggle with the product lifetime management policies of the big OEM machinery manufactures and feel forced to spend considerable time and expense on new upgrades. At the same time, they are being encouraged to reduce their use of raw materials and consider reuse where feasible.

"We want to show customers that there is an alternative through the purchase of refurbished industrial automation spare parts. When they choose JCertified refurbished electronics, they save on water, raw materials, and the CO₂ needed for the production of new electronics and benefit from a two-year warranty. When combined with our new sustainable impact calculator, we can give our customers clear, at-a-glance information on the cost, CO₂ and resource savings that can be achieved.”

In a comparison between a typical medium sized HMI and a refurbished unit, JC-Electronics can demonstrate that the refurbished part saves 80% of CO₂ equivalent, 99% of resource use of metals and minerals and 86% of water use. 

Botter continues: "It is important to choose a reputable supplier for industrial parts' refurbishment that can guarantee the quality of its work. Industry averages suggest that ten per cent of parts require warranty work, whereas our rework rate is between only 1.1 to 1.3%.”

A key reason for this low warranty repair rate is that the company employs over 100 skilled technicians who recondition and test parts to the highest standards. This service comes with the JCertified reliability promise, which includes extensive evaluation and analysis, advanced cleaning techniques and the replacement of any defective components. Each reconditioned part is then tested extensively and supplied with a full two-year warranty.

The company’s process of purchasing, reconditioning, sales and after-sales meets the strict requirements of the RecQ certificate, the international hallmark for quality and circularity of refurbished electronics. The company also holds ISO 9001 quality and ISO14001 environmental accreditations.

www.jc-electronics.com

In addition, NVIDIA has announced that European manufacturers including BMW Group, Maserati, Mercedes-Benz and Schaeffler are transforming their end-to-end product lifecycles – from simulated product design and factory planning to AI-driven operations and logistics – by running NVIDIA-accelerated applications from software leaders such as Ansys, Cadence and Siemens.

“In the era of AI, every manufacturer needs two factories: one for making things, and one for creating the intelligence that powers them,” said Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA. “By building Europe’s first industrial AI infrastructure, we’re enabling the region’s leading industrial companies to advance simulation-first, AI-driven manufacturing.”

The AI factory will be built following the framework highlighted in the NVIDIA Omniverse Blueprint for AI factory design and operations. As part of this blueprint, Cadence’s Reality Digital Twin Platform will be used to simulate and optimise the entire AI factory in a physically accurate virtual environment, enabling the engineering teams to build a smarter, more reliable facility.

This investment will serve as a launchpad to accelerate AI development and adoption for European manufacturers in anticipation of AI gigafactories.

Industrial software leaders accelerate products with NVIDIA technologies

Leading independent software vendors such as Ansys, Cadence and Siemens are accelerating their product portfolios using NVIDIA AI-physics technologies, NVIDIA CUDA-X libraries, NVIDIA Grace Blackwell systems and the NVIDIA Omniverse platform.

Siemens and NVIDIA have announced an expansion of their partnership to accelerate the next era of industrial AI and digitalisation and enable the factory of the future. The combination of Siemens’ software and industrial automation leadership with NVIDIA’s cutting-edge AI and accelerated computing is empowering organisations across sectors to optimise performance, boost productivity and meet sustainability goals through digitalisation. Maserati is tapping into Siemens solutions powered by Omniverse application programming interfaces to interactively visualise airflow over car bodies and improve its manufacturing process.

Ansys has announced it is integrating Omniverse into Ansys Fluent, a high-fidelity fluid simulation software, and into Ansys AVxcelerate Sensors to improve scene building and visualisation for autonomous vehicle simulations. Volvo Cars ran Ansys Fluent on NVIDIA Blackwell GPUs, accelerating fluid simulations by 2.5x for its EX90 electric vehicle. Using just eight NVIDIA Blackwell GPUs, Ansys accelerated solver speed by 2.5x compared with running the same simulation on 2,016 CPU cores and cost-equivalent hardware. Leonardo is also using Ansys Fluent on NVIDIA GPUs to accelerate designs and simulations on a range of its civil helicopters and the tiltrotors.

Cadence recently announced that it is transforming AI-accelerated simulation for multiple markets, including industrial AI, with its new Cadence Millennium M2000 Supercomputer. Millennium is combined with industry-leading design software from Cadence and NVIDIA CUDA-X libraries with the NVIDIA Blackwell platform, including NVIDIA GB200 NVL72 systems, to accelerate silicon, system and drug design. Toulouse, France-based Ascendance is using Cadence Fidelity computational fluid dynamics software and NVIDIA GPUs to design the future of aviation, achieving a 20x reduction in simulation runtimes.

Reinventing manufacturing from end to end

Schaeffler is using AI factories and adopting NVIDIA’s physical AI stack for digital factory planning, training humanlike robotic skills and scaling AI-powered automation across its 100+ manufacturing plants. By tapping into the Omniverse ecosystem using applications from Siemens, Schaeffler is creating digital twins of its facilities to enable efficient, resilient and safe production across the entire value chain.

Schaeffler also works with partners such as Microsoft Azure Industrial Cloud and Wandelbots, using the latter’s NOVA platform, which supports optimised simulation, integration and maintenance of robotic solutions, to integrate the Mega NVIDIA Omniverse Blueprint. Initial use cases are already progressing toward series maturity, with a goal to accelerate deployment by reducing integration costs.

BMW Group is building digital twins of its production facilities, including through the use of NVIDIA Omniverse libraries. These plant-scale digital twins let BMW global production planning teams collaborate in real time, optimise the layout and design of complex manufacturing systems, and develop autonomous robot and vision AI applications prior to real-world deployment.

BMW and Siemens are also accelerating the simulation of vehicle aerodynamics while reducing energy consumption and costs. Tests on NVIDIA Grace Blackwell and CUDA-X-accelerated Simcenter Star-CCM+ software have shown a speedup of 30x for transient aerodynamics simulations of entire vehicle geometries.

Mercedes-Benz is using Omniverse to design and optimise factory assembly lines virtually, reducing downtime and improving efficiency across its factories worldwide.

The Pulse test system is designed for control design innovation and hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) testing in automotive, aerospace, and other industries that demand versatility. The solution supports engineers working with an agile process, accelerating development iterations.

"Innovation depends on being able to experiment and adapt quickly to changing conditions. With the new Pulse real-time target machine, we empower engineers to prototype, test and bring their projects to life faster and with ease," says Speedgoat CEO, Martin Stoller.

The new test system is best suited for control design innovation, and entry- and component-level hardware-in-the-loop testing in a desktop or lab environment. For control design applications, it acts as a prototype controller on which users can run control designs for development and testing. In HIL applications, it runs the digital twin of the component or sub-system with which the controller under test interacts. Users can switch seamlessly between desktop simulation and real-time testing.

"For control design innovation and entry- and component-level HIL testing, the Pulse real-time target machine offers control and test engineers in automotive, aerospace, and other industries a compact and scalable platform. They can trust it to empower rapid innovation and deliver reliable test results," says Stoller.

For evolving and changing I/O requirements, users can easily expand the Pulse real-time target machine on their own with up to eight I/O modules. The new test system supports a wide range of I/O connectivity and protocols.

Like all test systems from Speedgoat, it offers seamless integration with MATLAB and Simulink® Real-Time from MathWorks for model-based design workflows.

The Pulse real-time target machine comes with a multiprocessor system-on-chip (SoC) which includes both a CPU and an FPGA. With the FPGA, engineers can run real-time applications at closed-loop sample rates in the MHz range.

The Pulse real-time target machine is delivered fully assembled, configured, and ready for use. It also comes with an extensive set of quality services. Jump-start workshops and training modules are available.

www.speedgoat.com

LONG CABLE runs are common in industrial enviroments. Systems are typically spread over wide areas, with motors often located far from VSDs, requiring connections back to centralised hubs or control centres.

Longer cable runs can act like antennas, making them more likely to pick up stray electromagnetic signals than shorter runs. Additionally, the increased cable length can introduce capacitance and resistance — storing and slowing down the flow of electricity and amplifying the effect of interference on the signal. These unwanted reflective waveforms impact system efficiency, increase power consumption and can lead to overheating.

Another consequence of these issues is unnecessary shutdowns in equipment like VSDs. This is otherwise known as a nuisance trip, where the system cuts out unexpectedly.

Cable run management

What can engineers do to avoid these issues? An answer is improving the management of longer cable runs. One method is to use shielded cables to reduce interference, while carefully routing them away from sources of noise. Another option is to keep cable lengths optimal, while ensuring they are supported and protected against mechanical stresses. Regular inspections and proper grounding are also key.

Reactors can provide another solution. Also known as motor chokes, reactors are large inductors that are installed at the output of a VSD. They absorb and smooth out electrical noise and interference that occurs as electrical signals travel along cables and, in doing so, ensure that the motor runs cooler and the system operates stably and efficiently. As a result, false overcurrent trips and cable overheating can be avoided.

Technidrive recommends reactors for cable runs over 80m in length when using a VSD. However, even shorter cable runs may require reactors if multiple motors are connected to a single VSD, as the cumulative length of cables can create electrical interference. Let’s look at an example of these technologies in use.

Noise absorbed

A food processing plant was experiencing frequent nuisance trips in its cooling system. Given that the cooling fans were essential for maintaining the right temperature for perishable items, the disruptions were a serious problem.

The food processor approached Technidrive to help solve the issue. The plant’s system involved multiple motors running from a single WEG CFW 11 VSD with long cable runs. However, electrical interference led the VSD to mistakenly detect overcurrent conditions. This caused the system to shut down unexpectedly and halt the cooling process.

To select the right reactor for this application, Technidrive’s specialists advised it was crucial to match the reactor’s current rating with the VSD’s maximum current. For instance, if the VSD is rated for a maximum current of ten amps, a reactor capable of handling this current should be chosen. This ensures the reactor can effectively absorb electrical noise and interference without being overstressed.

For the plant, Technidrive’s engineers recommended that a REO motor choke (CNW854) was installed at the output of the VSD. Its specifications include a voltage rise limitation of <200 volts per microsecond (V/µs), noise reduction capabilities, fully encapsulated design for protection up to IP 66. and the ability to support longer motor cable lengths without introducing additional interference. The result? The reactor absorbed the electrical noise and eliminated the reflective waveforms, preventing false trips.

David Strain is technical director at Technidrive

www.technidrive.co.uk

The suite of AI-enabled cybersecurity solutions is designed to bolster the defenses of operational technology (OT) environments against the evolving landscape of cyber threats. Together, Honeywell Cyber Proactive Defense and Honeywell OT Security Operations Center will help companies reduce the risk of cyberattacks in industrial environments, increase resiliency and support continuous operations.

The company has also announced the expansion of the Honeywell Digital Prime platform to encompass an enterprise-wide set of solutions that effectively test and modify engineering projects before implementation, helping reduce plant downtime and increase throughput when deployed into production.

In a recent survey of 300 US decision-makers and influencers in energy and energy-adjacent industries, Honeywell found that 91% believe AI has near-term potential to enhance energy security, and 85% are already either actively using or piloting AI in their companies today. 

“Industries are seeking AI-enabled, enterprise-wide solutions that adapt and make decisions in dynamic conditions, and our new digital technologies help them create safer, more reliable and more efficient operations,” said Pramesh Maheshwari, president of Honeywell Process Solutions. “As we guide our customers on the path from automation to autonomy, Honeywell’s domain expertise is poised to help them rethink how they use technology to drive innovation and gain a competitive edge.”

The new solutions include:

• Honeywell Cyber Proactive Defense, which is designed to enhance cybersecurity for industrial environments by proactively identifying and mitigating potential cyber threats before they manifest into attacks. By utilising AI and behavioral-based analytics, the solution helps detect anomalies in OT cyber behavior by establishing a comprehensive baseline of system operations and then provides actionable insights designed to strengthen OT cyber defenses. The software also features deception technology, which uses decoys within the network to help divert attackers from valuable assets.
• Honeywell OT Security Operations Center, a vendor-agnostic and agentless service designed to provide industrials with advanced capabilities tailored to OT environments to monitor for early signs of a cyberattack. The offering integrates on-site incident management services, providing a 24/7/365 holistic view of the cyber threat landscape for users.
• Honeywell Digital Prime Ecosystem, which now features three core Honeywell offerings – Solution Enhancement Support Program (SESP), Enabled Services and Assurance 360 – in one platform. Through consolidation, users can now leverage deep domain knowledge to optimise control systems and improve maintenance and operational effectiveness across an entire organisation. It will also offer near real-time performance insights that can help users achieve desired outcomes more quickly, while requiring less reliance on the technical expertise of an experienced workforce.

Honeywell Cyber Proactive Defense and OT Security Operations Center are now available globally. The expanded version of the Honeywell Digital Prime ecosystem will be available to customers in Q4 2025.

www.honeywell.com/us/en/company/ot-cybersecurity

Drawing on insights from 100+ manufacturers, the report outlines the potential for RAS technologies across the region’s industrial base and calls for urgent, coordinated action to scale up adoption.

The study reveals enthusiasm for robotics and automation technologies based on stakeholder interviews and a detailed literature review. It identified an adoption rate of more than 80% in basic applications, but that more advanced systems can achieve higher productivity.  These are being held back by a pressing need for financial, technical and policy support, especially for SMEs. In addition, lack of training provision and ready-to-hire RAS skills make staffing a challenge.

Mike Wilson, chief automation officer at the MTC and founding member of the West Midlands RAS Cluster said: “Make UK’s report calls for industry to support a coordinated cluster, where suppliers, integrators and users collaborate to share infrastructure, financial incentives and training. It underlines that we were right to establish the West Midlands RAS Cluster to provide a focus for collaboration, investment, and leadership.”

Ben Fletcher, COO of Make UK added: “Robotics and autonomous systems have the potential to transform UK manufacturing, driving competitiveness, innovation, and economic growth. This report gives readers actionable insight as to how existing barriers can be broken down to make this possible”.

The study’s findings show a clear intent to invest, with 59% of firms planning to expand RAS use within three years; and only 6% with no plans at all. A further 35% are considering investment.

It also demonstrates the perceived benefits: 45% of businesses cited productivity as the primary benefit of RAS, followed by quality and consistency.

Three key recommendations were:

• Financial aid: Expanding RAS-specific grants and incentives to lower entry barriers and enable more firms to explore and implement RAS.
• Collaboration: Academia, industry and government, both national and local, should work together through knowledge hubs, industry events and resource sharing to help SMEs access cutting-edge technology.
• Targeted upskilling: Developing targeted RAS upskilling programmes, apprenticeships, and professional development initiatives will address skills shortages.

The report found that the region has the capability to lead nationally on the RAS initiative, developing into an established adoption hub. This is particularly relevant given its geographic location, infrastructure advantages and access to skills. It has a strong industrial heritage, and is home to 12,700 manufacturing businesses, as well as academic institutions.

Download the full report at: www.makeuk.org/insights/reports/case-increased-ras-adoption-within-west-midlands-production-industry

As it enters its next phase of growth, AUAR is scaling its team, expanding its partner ecosystem, and preparing to launch operations across key European markets including Benelux, DACH, and the Nordics.

The construction industry faces mounting pressure from soaring costs, labour shortages, and fragmented and inefficient supply chains. There is currently a 2 billion housing shortage globally, an issue aggravated by the fact that builders can’t profitably increase their capacity with current approaches.

Traditional building techniques are failing to keep pace with demand, and inefficiencies continue to drive up expenses, cut profits and extend project timelines. Across Europe – especially where housing demand is most acute, such as in the UK or Germany – there’s an urgent need for innovative solutions that deliver cost-effective, scalable building methods.

Timber construction presents a significant opportunity to address this crisis, combining speed and affordability with sustainability. However, its potential remains largely untapped due to outdated and wasteful manufacturing approaches. AUAR changes that. Designed for mid-sized homebuilders, AUAR’s solution makes it easy to scale cost-effective timber housing without significant upfront investment or design constraints. Builders rent compact robotic Micro-Factories that locally produce the full timber structure of a home in just 12 hours and reduce on-site labour by up to 75%. AUAR’s MasterBuilder software connects AI-enhanced design directly to robotic production, automating everything from planning to fabrication and adding value throughout the project stack. This results in lower costs, faster builds, greater control over project timelines and ultimately increased capacity for the construction industry

AUAR was founded in 2019 by Mollie Claypool, CEO, and Gilles Retsin, CTO and chief architect, after working together for over a decade researching how robotics, generative design, and AI could radically transform housing and how we live. Their profound understanding of the sector’s challenges and unmet needs enabled them to develop a robust, scalable solution at the heart of what the industry demands today.

Mollie Claypool, co-founder and CEO of AUAR, said: “AUAR is building a global, automated construction ecosystem for sustainable, affordable, and beautiful homes at scale, designed to plug into the way builders already work. By enabling the industry to build together, powered by robotics and artificial intelligence, we’re not just offering a new tool – we’re unlocking new possibilities for how homebuilders can grow, innovate, and deliver at scale.”

The Robotic Micro-Factories developed by AUAR are a breakthrough technology for an industry struggling with a lack of skilled labour and low productivity. These compact, mobile pop-up factories combine robotics with proprietary software to automate the design and construction process, finally making timber construction accessible at scale. 

Each Micro-Factory can produce modular timber-frame panels for walls, floors, and roofs which can be quickly assembled on-site to create a variety of home designs. By streamlining on the design-to-manufacture process, AUAR’s solution slashes total construction costs.

Gilles Retsin, co-founder and CTO of AUAR, said: “Our product is changing the game in construction. With the use of affordable, flexible robotics that can easily adapt to different designs, builders don’t need special facilities or massive training to get the best out of our technology. By bringing manufacturing directly to the site or close by, we’re cutting out delays and costs. This approach isn’t just more efficient, it also opens the door for the industry to build faster and at a larger scale. At AUAR we’re not just making construction more automated; we’re making it more accessible to everyone.”

This funding round is led by European early-stage venture fund Planet A with participation from Shadow Ventures, Common Magic and Concrete VC. Angel investors in this round include Margarita Skarkou, Carmel Rafaeli, Dorothy Chou, Sandro Gianella, and Luke Appleby. Previous investors Miles Ahead, ABB Robotics Ventures and Nicolas Bearelle also participated.

In the past year, AUAR built multiple projects in Belgium, worked on over 300 homes, and initiated the build of “ConstrucThor”, a cutting-edge research facility that reimagines the future of sustainable construction. Further validation came through an Innovate UK SMART grant to scale the AUAR platform for manufacturing mid-rise timber housing, demonstrating both market demand and the strength of its solution. AUAR’s system for mid-rise timber housing will be commercially available in early 2026. Ahead of this, the company is engaging with homebuilders, developers and housing providers interested in early access and pilot opportunities. With demand growing across Europe and the UK, AUAR is actively building its network of partners. 

By 2030 AUAR aims to have built over 100,000 carbon-negative homes being produced by their customers in more than 10 geographies. 

auar.io 

This new partnership further strengthens ForwardX’s growing footprint in Europe and supports its mission to provide flexible, intelligent automation to a global audience. Through this collaboration, businesses across the Benelux region will gain local access to ForwardX’s industry-leading AMR solutions. An open demo center has already been established in Belgium, allowing potential customers to experience ForwardX technology firsthand. The partnership officially began several weeks ago and is already gaining traction among local manufacturers and logistics providers seeking scalable automation.

Lynx Automation brings deep regional expertise and a strong reputation in implementing cutting-edge industrial automation. Their team is dedicated to optimizing operational efficiency through smart technology integrations, making them an ideal partner for ForwardX’s expanding European operations.

“We’re excited to join forces with Lynx Automation as we continue to scale across Europe,” said Nicholas Chee, CEO of ForwardX Robotics. “Their market insight and hands-on approach will be essential as we bring intelligent, vision-based AMR solutions to businesses throughout the Benelux region.”

ForwardX Robotics offers a comprehensive portfolio of AMR solutions – ranging from autonomous case picking and pallet transport to intelligent towing and dynamic fleet orchestration. These solutions are built to address the unique challenges of warehousing, manufacturing, and supply chain operations with unmatched flexibility and precision.

“At Lynx Automation, we’re not just building smarter logistics—we’re shaping the future of autonomous operations. Through our new partnership between Lynx Logic and ForwardX, we’re bringing world-class Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs) to the Benelux and DACH regions, enabling our clients to scale faster, move smarter, and operate more safely than ever before,” said the Lynx Automation team.

Together, ForwardX and Lynx Automation are committed to delivering tailored automation solutions that boost productivity, reduce costs, and future-proof intralogistics across industries. With local support now available and demo systems live, this partnership sets a strong foundation for long-term success in the Benelux region.

www.forwardx.com

Despite all the attention given to electrical schematics, interface configuration and motor logic, one question is often overlooked: what happens when something goes wrong?

Offshore environments are inherently high-risk. Platforms are isolated, weather conditions change fast, and emergency response options are limited. That is why offshore survival training has become a non-negotiable foundation for anyone expected to work in or support offshore operations. It is not only relevant for deck crews or marine personnel, but increasingly important for automation engineers, control technicians and system specialists who install, inspect and maintain offshore assets.

Why safety training must match technical skill

Modern offshore platforms rely on complex automation to run drilling operations, manage power systems, monitor sensors and ensure stability. The teams who service or install these systems often rotate in on short contracts, perform high-pressure tasks in confined spaces and interact with equipment that cannot be easily shut down.

Offshore survival training equips technical staff with more than general safety rules. It teaches how to stay calm in low-visibility conditions, escape from a smoke-filled compartment or survive a sudden evacuation. These are not distant, hypothetical scenarios; they are possibilities that must be planned for, especially when systems or environments don’t respond as expected.

Training typically includes helicopter underwater escape, use of life rafts, fire and smoke response, first aid and cold-water exposure. While these skills may seem unrelated to automation work, the reality is that an automation specialist might be the only one on-site who can initiate a safety override or direct others during a control system failure. Preparation in these situations can make the difference between minor disruption and serious incidents.

The BOSIET Certificate: A shared safety standard

For most offshore roles, holding a BOSIET certificate is the minimum requirement for deployment. BOSIET, which stands for Basic Offshore Safety Induction and Emergency Training, is an internationally recognised programme that focuses on real-world risks and how to respond to them in an offshore context.

It is often the first certification an engineer or technician receives before taking an offshore assignment. The programme covers core elements like personal survival techniques, fire safety, first aid and the use of emergency breathing systems. The goal is not to turn specialists into first responders, but to ensure that everyone working offshore can protect themselves and help stabilise a situation before dedicated rescue arrives.

The BOSIET certificate also serves as a common language across teams. When everyone has gone through the same drills and knows what the protocols are, coordination becomes faster and smoother. This is especially important for technical contractors or systems engineers who may be on-site for a few days or weeks but still need to integrate into ongoing safety procedures.

Where expertise meets emergency preparedness

In high-spec industries like automation and control systems, professionals are expected to keep operations stable and efficient. However, offshore, that expectation includes the ability to handle unpredictability; technical readiness and personal safety must go hand in hand. It is not enough to know how to wire a control cabinet if you cannot locate an escape route under pressure or recognise the signs of exposure in a coworker.
Companies and training providers that work with offshore industries understand this. That is why they continue to offer offshore survival programmes tailored to engineers, inspectors and installation teams. Providers like FMTC design their courses with practical, scenario-based instruction that reflects the risks automation professionals face.

Conclusion

Control systems and drive technologies form the backbone of offshore platforms, but they rely on human expertise to keep them running safely. For professionals in the field, investing in offshore survival training is not an added burden. It is part of being ready for everything the job demands, both technical and environmental. When backed by a recognised BOSIET certificate, that training ensures the people behind the systems are as prepared as the equipment they install.