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SKILLS

Pybar’s tick of approval

s one of Australia’s largest metallifer- eas so actually having the ability to de- be reviewed after feedback has been re-
Aous underground mining contractors, liver programmes for these people where ceived from participants.
Pybar Mining Services Pty Ltd felt com- they couldn’t normally just go along to Most short courses will run for 1-3 days,
pelled to step up and offer a solution to TAFE really plugs a huge gap,” Walsh depending on the qualification type.
the growing skills shortage clouding the told Paydirt. According to Walsh, a full underground
sector. “What separates AIM from a lot of the traineeship culminating in a Certificate III
Reducing barriers to working under- other RTOs is our trainers are actually qualification is completed over two years,
ground has been on the agenda for safety and training co-ordinators and peo- with on-site roles progressing as new skills
some time, particularly in New South ple who work on our sites, so they’re cur- are learnt and developed.
Wales where Pybar is headquartered. rent with industry and they’re not coming Pybar also recently gained approval
Therefore, the company sought to have from a classroom perspective.” from the NSW resources regulator to de-
its registered training organisation – the As part of the RTO application process, liver the one-day “learning from disasters”
Australian Institute of Mining (AIM) – na- Pybar conducted an extensive review of its course, the first of which was being rolled
tionally recognised. existing training and assessment packag- out at the time of print.
In December, Pybar gained that ap- es and recommended updates to ensure “The course is designed for mine man-
proval from the Australian Skills Quality each one met national framework require- agers and statutory roles and it is about
Authority (ASQA) and is now able to of- ments. identifying what leads to disasters,” Walsh
fer nationally accredited Certificate II and Pybar plans to launch a pilot training said.
Certificate III qualifications for new and programme for new underground work- “I think there’s about eight case studies
existing underground workers. ers over the coming months. This initial in that programme and when you look at
AIM also offers a number of short offering is expected to run for 14 days, each one closely, you can see these pat-
courses on key competencies such as with timeframes for future programmes to terns of failure. If they’d been looked at
shot-firing/blasting, working safely at more closely at the time, those disasters
heights, risk management, health and could very well have been avoided.
safety investigations and first aid. These I expect AIM will “We will also offer that course to other
are also nationally recognised. have a really companies and other sites in NSW.”
Pybar RTO manager Roy Walsh said In preparing for the upgrade of its vari-
the group’s training courses were gen- significant impact on ous training initiatives, Pybar consulted
erally well received by staff, clients and “kills shortages with the governments of the various states
the s
other industry stakeholders. it operates in across the country, including
“Mine sites are generally in remote ar- facing the industry. in Tasmania, where 52 of its workers from
the Henty gold mine are now enrolled in
a Certificate III underground metalliferous
mining course.
“Some of these governments are quite
excited about the possibilities for the future
and the increased traineeship support,”
Walsh said.
“There is something special about tak-
ing on someone who has never worked in
mining before and giving them an induc-
tion, basic training, running them through
all the safety and then placing them with a
crew where they gain experience and start
doing the various operator roles.”
Walsh said he hoped other contractors
and mining groups would follow Pybar’s
lead and look to implement their own na-
tionally recognised training programmes.
“Our sector really lacks national qualifi-
cations,” he said.
“Many of our workers have no formal
qualifications, even though they are very
competent people; they’ve just never had
access to these formal qualifications, so
we see this as a big win for the sector.
“I expect AIM will have a really signifi-
cant impact on the skills shortages facing
the industry.”
– Michael Washbourne
More than 50 Pybar workers from the Henty gold mine in Tasmania are enrolled in a Certificate
III underground training programme
Page 56 FeBRUaRY 2020 aUSTRaLIa’S PaYDIRT