Page 2048 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 15 May 2013
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
It is perhaps useful to outline to the Assembly some of the work that happens in the ACT from both the Construction Industry Training Fund Authority and the CIT. These two bodies, as public providers, have an important part to play in delivering on the recommendations of the WorkSafe report and in ongoing training on safety in the construction industry. In 2013, the Building and Construction Industry Training Fund Authority reaffirmed its commitment to the funding of work health and safety training for workers in the industry. The authority provides funding to a number of registered training organisations in the ACT for the specific purpose of occupational health and safety training. The Construction Industry Training Fund Authority funding includes drug and alcohol and fatigue awareness; bullying, harassment and racial vilification, suicide awareness; asbestos awareness; first aid; working safely at heights; manual handling training; sun smart and nutrition training; dust and disease training; confined space training; safety observation and conversation; and traffic management.
These courses include builders, plumbers, electricians and carpenters. A worker is eligible for funding if they work for a company or organisation that is substantially engaged in carrying out work described in the schedule of work in the Building and Construction Industry Training Levy Act 1999. The authority is a sponsor of the ACT building and construction industry safety handbook which has been compiled by ACT WorkCover particularly for the building and construction industry and related sectors. CIT is the largest provider of training and, indeed, as the public provider of vocational education and training, has a particular responsibility to its students and the ACT community as a whole.
Workplace safety is a core component of all construction training courses. The minimum requirement to enter a worksite is the attainment of a white card. The white card is issued by the Office of Regulatory Services upon the successful completion of the unit of competency called “work safely in the construction industry”. Further, there are a number of stand-alone, high-risk competencies with practical outcomes that are both core and elective within training package qualifications such as the one called “use explosive power tools”.
The competency called “work safely at heights” is an underpinning competency that supports training for the stand-alone competencies called “operate an elevated work platform” and “erect and dismantle restricted height scaffolding”. These competencies are part of the trade qualification package but also give restricted access to and some core skills within the high-risk licensed competencies for scaffolding, articulated boom lift, rigging, cranes, dogging and hoists. All of CIT’s training and assessment is developed, monitored and reviewed in consultation with the industry, as directed by the relevant standards.
In October 2012, rigorous, new, high-risk licensing legislation came into effect in the ACT to help reduce the rates of accidents for those people who work in occupations such as scaffolding, rigging and crane operations. In anticipation of this development, and over a three-year period, CIT built a new high-risk training facility at CIT Bruce. This $600,000 investment was designed to meet an increase in demand for training in a real life, work site-type environment. Since construction of the new facility, CIT has
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video