The Australian Industry Skills Committee (AISC) has approved a review of the VET WHS qualifications. The review is under the Business Services Industry Reference Committee (IRC) and is being managed by Skills For Australia (PwC) who are the Skills Support Organisation.

The qualifications under review are:

• BSB30715 Certificate III in WHS
• BSB41415 Certificate IV in WHS
• BSB51315 Diploma in WHS
• BSB60615 Advanced Diploma in WHS.

The rational for change includes:

The need for WHS workers to be equipped with the skills and knowledge to provide effective advice on managing WHS appropriate to their level of operation whilst supporting productivity and workplace morale Alignment with the Global OHS Capability Framework as an international benchmark to enable a high standard of capability among WHS students and in turn inform employers and regulators as to the capabilities of WHS students Review of the ongoing relevance of the Certificate III and Certificate IV in WHS Concern that current units of competency are vague and outdated

It is important that OHS professionals and practitioners contribute to the discussions on the VET WHS qualifications review which will determine the structure of the qualifications and the content of the units of competency for years to come.

As part of the consultation for this review PwC is undertaking face to face public forums in most states and have an online survey.

Public forums 

Melbourne  3rd August  2.00pm- 3.30 pm,  Level 10, 2 Riverside Quay, Southbank

Brisbane–  15th August 2.00pm – 3.30pm 480 Queen St, Brisbane City

Darwin–  18th August 9.30am -11.00am  Venue TBC

Perth–  25th August 9.00am – 10.30am  125 St Georges Terrace, Perth

Adelaide 29 August  3.00pm- 4.30pm Level 11, 70 Franklin St, Adelaide

Sydney-  5th September 10am to 11.30am  One International Towers Sydney, Watermans Quay, Barangaroo

You need to register for a forum by emailing Kristen.stribley@pwc.com.

For those in regional areas (and ACT and Tasmania) who are not able to attend and particularly want to contribute to the discussion you should similarly email Kristen to see if you can set a teleconference. For the teleconference, it would be most useful if you have a small group.

Online survey 

PwC have also developed a survey to obtain industry feedback on the VET WHS qualifications. The survey is seeking information on the types of skills that are required; and job activities that people are doing day to day that require VET WHS training.

The 10 minute survey can be accessed at WHS skills survey.

• The survey closes Friday 1 September 2017, 6pm AEST.

If you have any questions about the survey, you can contact PwC’s Skills for Australia at 1800 714 819, or email them at info@skillsforaustralia.com

I urge you to participate in a forum wherever possible and also complete the online survey which targets ‘industry’ and so has particular focus.

Please pass on this advice to those who may be interested in providing input to the VET WHS review.

Pam Pryor, Registrar

Chair, VET WHS Review Working Party

 

This release is also available as a PDF.