Skills eFlash #147

Skills eFlash #147 New

Date: 31-Aug-2026

Next Gen – funding approved!

qldwater is pleased to announce that the Department of Trade, Employment and Training (DTET) has approved funding for our NextGen Trainer and Assessor Initiative under the Queensland Government's NextGen Trainers: Industry-led Solutions Program.

Through this funding, qldwater will partner with Pinnacle Safety and Training to deliver the TAE40122 Certificate IV in Training and Assessment to 10 participants from Water Skills Partnership (WSP) member organisations. The program aims to strengthen the pipeline of qualified VET trainers and assessors within the water sector, enabling participants to share their industry knowledge and expertise with the next generation of water professionals.

This investment recognises the important role industry plays in developing vocational education and training professionals, ensuring training remains fit-for-purpose and aligns to the workforce needs of our sector.

We thank the Queensland Government and DTET for their support of this important initiative and look forward to working with Pinnacle Safety and Training and our WSP members to develop the next generation of trainers and assessors for the Queensland water industry.

We will be contacting the councils that provided nominees to confirm participants and start locking in the training arrangements. Thank you to everyone who has supported the process and, particularly, to those councils that put forward staff while we worked through the funding process. We’re looking forward to getting this one out of the planning phase and into delivery!

SCADA VR Training – funding application submitted

qldwater has submitted a funding application to develop virtual reality training for SCADA, in partnership with Logan Water and the City of Gold Coast. The project would develop a simulated SCADA environment where operators can build fundamental skills and practise responding to operational scenarios and alarms in a safe training environment. The training is intended to be platform-neutral, focusing on the core skills operators need to interpret SCADA information and make appropriate operational decisions rather than training people to use a particular vendor's system. If successful, Logan Water and the City of Gold Coast will provide operator and subject matter expertise to help develop, test and refine the training.

Introducing the Yellow Card

Our latest addition to the Water Training website, the Yellow Card, will go live this week. This course provides non-electrical workers with the knowledge to recognise low voltage electrical hazards, understand exclusion zones and safe approach distances, safely interact with electrical equipment in operational environments, and know when to stop and escalate to qualified electrical personnel.

This is not an electrical licence course and does not authorise any type of electrical work.

The course is divided into five modules:

Module 1: Electrical Basics
Module 2: Water Industry Electrical Hazards
Module 3: Roles, Responsibilities and Electrical Safety
Module 4: Safe Work Around LV Equipment
Module 5: Emergency Response

As with all our Card courses, the Yellow Card is available free of charge to all qldwater members and Affiliates. Dynamic rules will allow learners with the appropriate email domains to be enrolled in the course so please ensure you use your work emails to access the course. Please email skills@qldwater.com.au if you have questions or technical issues.

Find the Yellow Card here.

Survey – Entry Level Pathways

qldwater is seeking to understand the range of entry-level workforce development pathways currently offered by member organisations. This short survey should take approximately 5 minutes to complete and will close on 11 September 2026. The information collected will help identify existing good practice, explore opportunities for industry collaboration, and inform future workforce attraction and development initiatives across the Queensland water sector.

We are particularly interested in understanding current approaches to work experience, traineeships, cadetships, graduate programs, vocational placements, and partnerships members have with higher education providers and all-inclusive recruitment agencies.

Complete the survey here.

WISE Course EOIs

Following the success of the first delivery of the Water Industry Supervisor Essentials (WISE) course in Cairns, we are now working with QWRAP regions to line up regional cohorts.

WISE has been designed specifically for water sector supervisors, particularly those in regional and remote councils who are often balancing safety, compliance, contractor management, and team leadership without formal training. Delivered over two days, the program aims to build confidence, consistency, and capability through practical, sector-specific learning.

Contact Sarah for more information and future deliveries.

VET in Schools – a good model for water

BuildSkills has announced a review of the Certificate II in Plumbing VET in Schools program, looking at what’s working, how programs are being delivered and where the roadblocks are. This caught our attention because it’s exactly the sort of work we’d like to see done for the water sector. We’d like to get a much clearer picture of whether Certificate II Water Industry Operations is being delivered through schools, where it’s happening, what the different models look like and what might be getting in the way. And where programs do exist, we also want to understand what happens to students afterwards – are they moving into water-sector jobs, traineeships or further training?

If VET in Schools could provide another pathway into the water sector, we need the evidence to understand what’s already happening and what might be possible. This is something we’ll be encouraging BuildSkills to explore as part of its broader workforce work.

HPWJ Asbestos Exemption – implementation update

Work is continuing with participating organisations to support the implementation of the HPWJ asbestos exemption. We are currently reviewing how the supporting SWMS and safety requirements are being applied across different organisations, with a focus on ensuring the controls are practical for operators and consistently understood across the sector. This work is also helping identify opportunities to strengthen the existing guidance, share lessons between participating organisations and ensure we continue to meet the requirements of the exemption.