Whilst current levels of activity are not uniform across the states and territories, there still persists strong demand for the right people with the right skills – competent people if you like. That is something that I will come back to later.

With our population growing, infrastructure ageing and demand for housing outstripping supply in some areas, there is little doubt that civil contractors will generally be experiencing strong demand for their services in the short to medium term at least.

With this demand comes a demand for skills. When it is all stripped back, people are what makes the industry. Without a sufficient quantity of skilled people there would be no industry. That is a frightening thought. No one to build our sub-divisions, build our roads, maintain our water and electricity supplies, amongst other things. We can have all the best equipment and technology in the world but that won’t do the job unless we have skilled people to operate it.

I think it is safe to say that, traditionally, industry has been able to satisfy its demand for skilled workers. Withtheageing population and basically all industry sectors experiencing high levels of activity and therefore demand for skills, the civil construction industry now finds itself in an increasingly competitive environment for labour – unfamiliar territory. This situation is showing some shortcomings in the industry. What is our industry all about and how much does the public understand about what the civil construction is and does? I recently attended a school on the outer fringes of the Perth metropolitan area to “wave the industry flag”. In a room of about 30 or so year 10 students I asked who knew what the civil construction industry does. The response was quite illuminating. “It builds houses” was a common response as was “builds office blocks”. The students were oblivious as to how utilities such as power and water get to their homes. “You just turn on the tap” was a reasonably common view….somewhat similar to the one that “milk comes out of cartons” – no connection at all to the cow that produced the milk…

I can say that as an industry we are pretty invisible. Some of you may see that as a broad generalised statement but my view is that we are not on the radar of the vast majority of young people that are our workforce of tomorrow. We need to collectively lift our game in that area. And that is only the start of the equation.

Earlier in this monologue, I mentioned the word competent. The industry not only needs skilled people, it needs competent people. So what is competence? The clinical definition of competence taken straight from Training Packages 101 is as follows: “Competence is the ability to consistently carry out tasks to a designated (industry) standard that demonstrates knowledge, experience and skills.”

I think that succinct definition sums things up. We need people who can perform consistently, to a standard that we as an industry require and for them to demonstrate a depth of knowledge and skill that (quite often) comes from experience.

Now let me turn the discussion to Trenchless Technology. In the context of the above, you can look at it two ways. Being relatively new, if people can’t “see” the more longer serving traditional elements of the industry then what hope do they have of getting their heads around Trenchless Technology? Alternatively, being a newer segment of the industry you may take the view that it is more “in tune” with potential new entrants to the industry - the “Playstation generation” if you will. What we can be sure of is that this segment of the industry has a very bright future as we continue our urban sprawl and it become less desirable to install and repair infrastructure using a more traditional open trench method. This brings us to the inevitable equation that is more work = more competent people.

A theme at this year’s Civil Contractors Federation (to be held in Alice Springs in October) is “growing your own” – quite appropriate to this situation. It’s about taking the bull by the horns and putting in place strategies to become more self-sufficient and to recruit and retain the right competent people. In doing so, we need to be mindful of giving recognition to those people in the Trenchless Technology industry that have built up skills and experience through many years on the job.

From a Trenchless Technology perspective, the last Training Package review saw the inclusion of a Trenchless Technology stream in recognition of this growing segment of the industry. In all, ten new units were developed addressing rehabilitation and other aspects of Trenchless Technology.

It is safe to say that take up of the new Certificate III Trenchless Technology qualification has not been what was expected. Whilst people may have differing views about the content and adequacy of the units that have been developed, they are a start and I think it is up to the industry to use the units/qualification and continually monitor them and make suggestions for review so that we can get the best possible product that will meet industry’s expectations. To do this, industry will need to explore options with Registered Training Organisations (RTOs). These options can be through direct delivery or through partnering arrangements with RTOs that allow industry to use their own expertise in the delivery and/or assessment of training. Trenchless Technology training resources aligned to the training package units of competence are available to RTOs for a nominal charge through the Civil Contractors Federation (WA Branch).

So what does the Certificate III program contain?

Well, according to the training package, you need to achieve 20 units of competence (core units) and six elective units with at least three of these being level III Trenchless Technology.

The core units include:

* Follow OH&S policies and procedures * Conduct workplace communication * Plan and organise work * Carry out measurements and calculations * Handle construction materials and safely dispose of non-toxic materials * Use civil construction hand and power tools * Use small plant and equipment * Read and interpret plans and specifications * Drain and dewater site * Carry out manual excavation * Support plant operations * Spread and compact materials manually * Carry out basic levelling * Work in confined spaces * Install trench support * Carry out concrete work * Identify, locate and protect underground services * Control construction site water table * Carry out site-based risk control processes * Install sub-soil drainage

In addition to these core units, there are a vast range of electives in the package to choose from. Decisions on electives will largely be determined by enterprise need. As mentioned earlier at least three electives must be chosen from the following Trenchless Technology units:

* Conduct fluid-assisted directional boring * Conduct impact moling, ramming and augering * Control microtunnelling and pipe jacking * Undertake on-line replacement for existing pipeline systems * Undertake localised repair and sealing of existing pipeline systems * Install cure in-place linings for existing pipeline systems * Spray linings for existing pipeline systems * Renovate large diameter pipes and chambers

For those people that have been in the workforce for some time, it would be expected that they would have substantial experience that should see them gain credit against the required units of competence. This process, called recognition of prior learning, allows for the formal recognition of a persons previous experience, knowledge and skill no matter how it has been acquired. People interested in gaining credit should discuss this with their Registered Training Provider.