Huw Bement, Managing Director of CompEx Certification, will be speaking at Hazardex Live 2024 about competency and skills for the energy transition.

This presentation will reflect on the wider context of competency and skills in the energy transition. Research suggests that a significant proportion (up to 90%) of workers within the Oil & Gas sector have transferable skills that could be relevant for renewable technologies such as wind, CCUS and Hydrogen. However, there are factors that could have a profound impact on how this existing workforce can effectively support the energy transition. In the most optimistic scenarios, studies suggest that the offshore sector employment could increase from 150,000 or so in 2023 to more than 200,000 by 2030.

Planned infrastructure projects in other parts of the economy, such as nuclear and rail, will also call upon the established workforce in the next decade. A shortage of skilled labour could not only constrain project delivery and investment decisions; but from a skills development perspective, where will we recruit trainers and assessors from? And what lessons can we take from our own experience across hazardous areas?

About the author:

Huw Bement joined certification body CompEx as Executive Director in January 2021 and has already started looking at ways to guide the scheme through the next phase of its journey. CompEx has an incredible legacy spanning nearly 30 years, so Huw is working to ensure that the needs of all its stakeholders are met for many more years to come. Huw aims to leverage CompEx’s technical expertise to increase the scheme’s reach and support improvements to standards and safety.