Reflections on the Water Industry Worker Program
Date: 17-Sep-2024
The Water Industry Worker Program was developed in partnership with qldwater, government, industry and training providers to help retain skilled staff and improve future opportunities for workers through industry specific training. The Program commenced in South East Queensland in late 2009 and has now been adopted across a number of organisations and regions from across Queensland.
In 2019, the Whitsunday Isaac Mackay Water Alliance successfully applied for funding through the Queensland Water Regional Alliances Program (QWRAP) to employ a Learning & Development Coordinator to align training opportunities across all QWRAP regions.
Simmonds & Bristow (S&B) was selected as the Registered Training Organisation (RTO) to deliver Certificate II and Certificate III Water Industry Operations to council employees with the aim to create well-rounded and reliable operators across the regions.
According to S&B Managing Director David Bristow, the Water Industry Worker program is one of the most significant programs they have delivered to date.
The training was based on a need for reliable water industry employees but also to contribute to providing safe, secure, and sustainable urban water services across Queensland. The first round of the program launched in May 2019 with five participating councils: Mackay Regional Council, Whitsunday Regional Council, Townsville City Council, Burdekin Shire Council and Cairns Regional Council.
The program’s focus is to ensure students gain practical, hands-on experience that they can bring directly to their water industry roles. To accomplish this, the training is organised into 13 cohorts with face-to-face delivery at their respective treatment plants and remote Work Readiness Assessments (WRA), ensuring personalised and effective learning experiences. The practical delivery is split into week-long training blocks, with the trainers travelling between councils for delivery. This method allows the students to gain experience using real equipment and scenarios that they are likely to encounter in their daily operations.
Currently in its fourth round, the program has expanded to include water and wastewater treatment. Over 100 students across 16 different councils make up the program, making it the most extensive program yet for S&B outside of their Indigenous and Torres Straight Island programs. Of those students, 53 are enrolled in networks while 56 are enrolled in treatment.
The size of this program means that collaboration is essential for effective implementation, which makes the facilitation by Mackay Regional Council through the QWRAP program invaluable to coordinate the needs and requirements of each council.
What are the benefits of this program?
The collaboration and mixed deliveries required for the WIW program have afforded the councils a unique opportunity to work together and better their network connections. Students and supervisors alike have been able to learn about each other’s work and understand the different issues, environments and associated problem-solving they face in their everyday work.
S&B Senior Trainer, Bill Oldroyd has shared a similar sentiment, noting his experience visiting the different locations.
“The best thing about the program for me was seeing how much the students loved networking with their colleagues from other regions, and actually getting the chance to visit their plants and depots. We were very well looked after at all the regions I visited. The council staff were always very helpful.”
– Bill Oldroyd, Senior Water Industry Trainer for WIW
One of the main benefits of the WIW Program is that the councils can coordinate their training needs so that large groups are trained at once, reducing the time and money spent to gain competent operators. Councils are also able to capitalise on available funding programs, in particular the User Choice Program for Queensland. This has alleviated the stress of the available budget, allowing the councils to seek the training they need.
Thanking our helpers
There are several key figures integral to the program’s success:
Lee-Anne Willis – Mackay Regional Council, Learning & Development Project Coordinator for WIW
Lee-Anne has been a significant help in the project’s implementation. Her role in the project as a Learning & Development Coordinator is to stand in as our main point of contact. She helps us coordinate training between the councils by finding delivery locations and collecting delivery requirements from the other councils. She also helps us disseminate the information we share with the councils and intervenes when we can’t get responses from councils.
Stephanie Gauvrit – Simmonds & Bristow, Project Manager
Stephanie Gauvrit is the current Project Manager for the WIW. When the project expanded in group size and scope with the inclusion of treatment, we required a Project Manager with more experience managing large-scale projects. Her involvement has been important for refocusing training requirements and managing compliance.
Simmonds & Bristow Trainers
Matthew Hopf & Kim Kerby - Simmonds & Bristow, Networks Trainers
Kim Kerby and Matthew Hopf were the initial trainers to take on this program. Their experience and in-depth knowledge of network operations helped build the necessary training plans.
Dave Roberston & Maung Maung Soe – Simmonds & Bristow, Treatment Trainers
When the project expanded in group size and scope of the training plans delivered, we required the expertise of our treatment trainers to join the delivery team. Dave Roberston and Maung Maung Soe have been essential in the establishment and delivery of the treatment portion.
Bill Oldroyd – Simmonds & Bristow, Senior Trainer
Bill Oldroyd, with his expertise in both networks and treatment, has also been an immense help, with Bill occasionally using his downtime to help with the program to ensure our learners get through the training.
Learning & Development Officers – All Councils
The learning and development officers and coordinators across the councils all help to ensure that we can collect the compliance documentation and that the training facilities and timing are accurate.
RTO Administration Assistants – Simmonds & Bristow
The RTO Administration Assistants are fundamental to the program's success. Their role is to see the students through their enrolments, provide support in enquiry and ensure all training is booked and ready.