Resources industry not out of the woods yet: Skills DMC

The comment comes as the Federal Budget kicks the resources and infrastructure industry into 'skills training' overdrive with $661 million to be invested as part of a sustainable growth strategy.
The announcement coincides with the release of SkillsDMC's 2010 Environmental Scan report which shows an estimated 50,000 new recruits will be required over the next 12 months to keep up with increasing demand twice the amount needed in 2009.
The Environmental Scan report is an annual in-depth review of the current state of the resources and infrastructure industry; including the latest workforce statistics, skills and labour data, supplied by participating organisations.
"Skills are currency in this industry and should be recognised across all sectors to ensure productivity. With LNG projects taking off across Western Australia and increased activities in coal seam gas extraction in Queensland and NSW, it is good news to see skills development at the top of the Government's agenda," said Des Caulfield, CEO, SkillsDMC.
According to the Environmental Scan report, up to 80 per cent of the workforce do not have the qualifications to recognise their on-the-job training and work experience.
"Many major operators are currently upskilling existing staff or are in the process of recruiting operational staff at all levels; including operators, tradespeople and professionals," said Caulfield.
Caulfield said the introduction of funding arrangements, such as the Federal Government's Enterprise Based Productivity Places Program (EBPPP), have enabled organisations to begin immediately, to identify critical skills gaps and address them accordingly. "The EBPPP partnership between industry, Federal and State Governments is a vital step towards establishing a system with the ability to respond quickly to changing skills requirements, support employment levels, resulting in a highly productive workforce directly related to business needs," he said.
"Organisations now recognise skills development as key to maximising performance and productivity during periods of slowdown as well as periods of growth.
"As a result, workforce planning and development initiatives have contributed to reducing levels of turnover from over 20 per cent in 2002 to below 5 per cent in 2008," said Caulfield.
Based on consultation with industry, SkillsDMC's Environmental Scan report offers the following snapshot for the resources and infrastructure sectors for 2010-2011:

Drilling
Approximately 2,700 new recruits will be required by 2012/13 in the drilling sector, placing significant pressure on organisations to source, replace and retrain the workforce needed to meet this production demand.
The nature of the drilling sector requires many years of on-the-job training to understand geological conditions and become experienced as a technical advisor. For this reason, drillers need to be assessed to a Certificate III level. However, more than 80 per cent of employees are not yet qualified to this level.
Due to its contractual nature and high turnover (29 per cent), the sector is very competitive and has historically found it difficult to retain employees on a long-term basis.
The Australian drilling sector will also need to service the gas sequestration, coal seam gas development, mine and infrastructure development and water conservation.
Whilst the sector has a healthy age profile with 77 per cent under the age of 45; it poses potential issues for specialist skills during times of increased demand; particularly over the coming 12 months.

Coal and Metalliferous Mining
The mining industry, which employs more than 200,000 workers, has improved the balance of young and mature-aged workers; however there are still critical skills gaps in occupational areas.
The majority of the workforce is employed in mineworker positions (66 per cent) and the industry has a low level of trade apprentices, indicating future skills gaps for maintenance and service positions.
As a highly-regulated sector, it requires a number of statutory officials and specialised personnel to oversee and carry-out operations.
Increased production and new operations starting up over the next three years will see an increase of between 5 per cent and 10 per cent in the workforce per year.
Queensland's coal seam sector and Western Australia's LNG Gorgon project are both expected to require up to 10,000 workers across a number of position, respectively.