Investigation of possible societal risk associated with wind power generation systems

Health effects of wind turbines in working environments – a scoping review

“…(37). The reporting quality of both content analyses differed: The report of Moura Carneiro et al (38) had a high risk of bias, while the one by Sovacool et al (37) had a low risk of bias. Sovacool et al (37) compared wind energy with other energy forms, and thus had a low risk of bias in regards to the eligibility of a comparison group.…”

“…Sovacool et al (37) compared wind energy with other energy forms, and thus had a low risk of bias in regards to the eligibility of a comparison group. For Moura Carneiro et al (38) there appeared to be a selection bias, and for Sovacool et al (37) a judgment regarding this type of bias could not been made. Both content analyses did not consider associated factors.…”

“…After removing duplicates, for the total scoping review, 9537 titles and abstracts as well as 182 full texts were screened. Finally, 20 publications were relevant for inclusion (22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28)(29)(30)(31)(32)(33)(34)(35)(36)(37)(38)(39)(40)(41). For the title, abstract and fulltext screening of the initial MEDLINE, EMBASE, and CINAHL searches conducted on 1 February 2016, the proportion of observed agreement between the two reviewers was 0.97 and 0.90, and Cohen's kappa of 0.82 and 0.81, respectively, resulting in an almost perfect agreement for both screening phases.…”

“…Proportions of female workers varied between 0-45.1%. Of the 20 publications, 6 reported on the influence of substances used in rotor blade manufacturer companies on workers' health (27-32), 5 on (on-or offshore) wind turbine accidents (resulting in fatality or injury) (34,35,37,38,41), 4 on the influence of noise from onshore wind turbines on workers' health (22)(23)(24)40), 2 on medical incidents on offshore wind farms (33,36), 2 on musculoskeletal disorders among onshore wind technicians (26,39), and 1 on workers' health in coal-fired plants and wind power plants (25).…”

“…Diverse accident and injury cases occurred during the installation and operation of German offshore wind farms (33,36). Around one hundred fatal accidents in the surroundings of operating wind turbines occurring globally were reported, most of these probably affecting humans in working environments (37,38). Fatalities and injuries due to wind turbine accidents may be predicted by various attributes (eg, lifecycle phase, power of the wind turbine, or country) (41).…”