At OneSteel, a recycling steel mill based at Rooty Hill in Sydney’s west, TAFE NSW – Western Sydney Institute has successfully completed training OneSteel employees in the Certificate III in Dogging through round-the-clock facilitation and assessment.
Joanne Nolan, Senior Training Consultant, TAFE NSW – Western Sydney Institute said, ‘OneSteel came to us after they realised that some of their employees needed upskilling.
‘From our investigation, many of their employees had the experience but not the qualifications. Many of them completed their training through 100 per cent RPL (recognition of prior learning). For some, it was just a matter of one unit that they needed to complete, which was Explosive Power Tools training.’
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Ms Nolan said that many of the employees had Explosive Power Tools qualifications which had expired or were about to expire.
‘By TAFE NSW coming in to train their workers in this unit, it meant that they were able to implement a uniform standard of training across the mill,’ Ms Nolan said.
Michael Synan, Training Advisor for OneSteel, worked with Western Sydney Institute to establish the program. He said at the time that the course was well put together and structured to minimise disruption to the business.
‘TAFE NSW provided us with professional and well-experienced people who had a good understanding of our business and our requirements,’ Mr Synan said. ‘They were flexible and were able to work around our day-to-day operations with very minimal impact.’
In turn, Ms Nolan commented on the professionalism of OneSteel.
‘OneSteel was one of the easiest companies to work with. Our facilitators were particularly impressed by the company’s safety and OH&S standards, which were just perfect.
‘They had 24-hour shifts and we would have to work around their employees’ availability,’ Ms Nolan said. ‘We had access to individuals, which meant we could contact them directly and be more accommodating to the employees.’
OneSteel now has qualified workers with recognised qualifications that align with their Key Performance Indicators, and these qualifications were gained without significant disruption to their workers or productivity.
Facilitators from Nirimba College examined the work required in dogging loads at the Rooty Hill OneSteel plant and mapped the tasks against the learning requirements of the national Certificate III in Dogging qualification.
They found that many of the workers had experience which enabled them through RPL to significantly reduce the time needed for formal training.
Mr Synan said at the time that this was significant given that there is a shortage of skilled personnel within the industry.
‘OneSteel are now less reliant on specialist contractors, freeing them up to assist other industries and employers, while we are now able to complete tasks in-house without the need for these contractors – saving us time and reducing our overheads,’ Mr Synan said.
