The Chamber of Minerals and Energy of Western Australia (CME) welcomes the Training Accreditation Council’s (TAC) release of its final report on high risk work licence training delivery in Western Australia.
The release of yesterday’s report follows an audit undertaken by TAC in 2015 on the standards of high risk work license training delivered by the State’s registered training organisations (RTOs).
CME chief executive Reg Howard-Smith said the report identified a significant proportion of RTOs had failed to comply with regulatory standards.
“The findings are not surprising considering long standing concerns held by the resources sector,” Mr Howard-Smith said.
“In fact, the review was initiated in response to these concerns with guidance by industry to inform the audit methodology.”
Mr Howard-Smith said employers have a duty of care under health and safety legislation to ensure employees with responsibilities for high risk work have obtained a license and are competent to undertake tasks.
“Ensuring the safety of workers is paramount for the resources industry,” Mr Howard-Smith said.
“It is critical that the training provided to obtain these licenses is of an appropriate standard and the recommendations detailed in the report will assist in meeting that objective.”
Mr Howard-Smith said TAC will now take action to ensure non-compliant RTOs rectify the problems identified and continue to monitor the quality of the training they deliver.
“Strong regulatory oversight is essential for proactively addressing these issues and ensuring ongoing compliance with training standards into the future,” Mr Howard-Smith said.
“The resources sector will continue to ensure workers are appropriately trained, have the required experience and are competent to undertake these critical safety roles.”
“CME will continue to work in partnership with TAC and other state and federal regulatory bodies to ensure industry has full confidence in future training and assessment arrangements for high risk work.”
