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Gas News Spring 2009 Update
In the last few months there has been a bit of activity going on within the industry in relation to the continuous improvement of the Training Package (UEG06).
On 5 August 2009 a forum was organised by EE – Oz (Gas Industry Skills Council) with both employee and employer organisations from the Energies and Utilities sectors, together with the appropriate State Training Authority (STA) Representatives. The main purpose for this meeting was to develop a working relationship with the STAs.
EE – Oz took this opportunity to explain the importance of why “prerequisites” (knowledge) are an integral part of our Training Package. Prior to this forum the STAs viewed the “prerequisites” as a loading up of the Training Packages minimum requirements.
The STA Representatives left the forum with an understanding of the Union’s position. It is the Union’s understanding that the forum will become an annual event, monitoring the progress of the Continuous Improvement component of the Training Packages.
On 19 & 20 August sessions were held that again brought employee and employer organisations together with the Victorian Registered Training Authority to develop “skill sets” that would be prerequisite to contractors currently in or wanting to establish themselves in the Industry. Those skills sets will also need to be acquired by employees that the contractors may have.
Below is an extract from issue 3 Winter 2009 “The Oz Wire”.
Gas Industry National Training Advisory Group (NTAG)
Skill Sets for the Gas Industry
The Gas Industry NTAG is currently working on the development of a number of skill sets to greater enhance the usability of the UEG06 Gas Industry Training Package.
Feedback has been received from a number of stakeholders that many of the smaller contractors who employ workers in the gas industry require skill sets rather than full qualifications, as they are only engaged in very narrow job roles within the gas industry.
The Gas Industry NTAG has taken a ‘back to the future’ approach to the issue and has started to look closely at the systems developed previously to address skills required for gas industry workers. Victoria developed a guide for addressing the issue of minimum skill requirements for gas industry occupations during the 1990s with its Victorian
Natural Gas Construction and Maintenance Competency Guidelines (which is often referred to as the ‘Brown Book’ by Gas Industry NTAG members), developed after the endorsement of the first Gas Industry Training Package in 1998.
The guideline lists a number of occupations and the mix of competency standard units required to undertake the occupational requirements. The guide has provided a very good starting point and the Gas Industry NTAG will use the information to identify skill sets according to contractual requirements expected from asset owners.
Any new skill sets will take into account changes in work practices as well the impact on occupations of regulation and advances in technology since the development of the old guidelines.
Certificate II in Career Start
The Gas NTAG is also currently considering integration into the Gas Training Package of a qualification to attract new entrants to the industry from the high school sector via a Certificate II Career Start qualification.
Career Start qualifications have already been included in the UEE07 Electro-technology Training Package and the Gas Industry Directors on the EE-Oz Training Standards Board have asked the Gas Industry NTAG to consider a similar style qualification.
For the Gas Industry Training Package and industry, this would include: some basic skills for using hand and power tools; occupational health and safety skills; skills related to workplace practices and knowledge of gas industry principles, including gas industry science; and basic gas industry work skills.
Such a qualification would be designed for delivery within the Vocational Education and Training in Schools environment. These are programs that allow students completing their final years of high school to exit their schooling with a Senior School Certificate and a Certificate II Career Start qualification, with the view that students completing the qualification will potentially gravitate to the industry carrying some useful enabling gas industry skills.
Asset/Network Planning
Another area that the Gas NTAG is currently investigating is the skills required for asset and network planning.
There has been advice that a career pathway exists in network planning for gas industry operatives moving ‘off the tools’ and into the network engineering side of the business. The Gas NTAG is looking closely at information received on workers in this position and the skills that they require to perform such work. The development of competency standard units in this field will allow operators to seek further training to develop their skills base for this work activity.
Endorsement of the Version 2 UEG06 Gas Industry Training Package
The Gas NTAG is also anticipating finalisation of the endorsement process for Version 2 of the UEG06 Gas Industry Training Package. The process is now in its final stages and the Version 2 Training Package will see the endorsement of a number of new qualifications in Transmission Pipeline Construction and Gas Industry Inspection and Audit. There are also a number of amendments that have been made to several Distribution competency standard units. Once this process has been completed, the category 1 and category 2 changes that the Gas NTAG endorsed in March 2009 can also be adopted.
Mick Wirrick
Gas Industry Organiser.
