Coal winning in the Latrobe Valley exceeds 45 mtpa uses a small number
of Bucket Wheel Excavators and high speed conveyor systems. While this
equipment offers many advantages in the production cycle, incorrect use
can lead to low productivity and risks to the safety of the operators and
equipment. The mining equipment is of high capital value and easily
damaged when used outside the correct operating range. In the extreme
case, this can result in total machine collapse, having major implications
for personnel safety as well as production and costs. With an active productivity improvement program in the Latrobe
Valley in the last two years resulting in a 50 per cent reduction of
personnel, many experienced operators have retired. Mine management
are facing the urgent need to rapidly train new operators to maintain high
productivity levels and reduce the risk of accidents to personnel and high
capital cost plant. With the assistance of the Central Gippsland College of TAFE a
Certificate Level course has been developed for open cut operators. The
course covers all essential training needs for the Latrobe Valley mines.
The training is developed from National Competency Standards, allowing
transfer of skills, and is flexible to suit other enterprises. It has been
written for self-paced learning with the total job understanding, and to
have competency-based learning outcomes, training tasks and
assessments built-in to modules. With the introduction of this new
training program, management is convinced that the element of risk
within the mine will be significantly reduced. For these reasons it is an
ideal training model for other enterprises.