One of the key challenges for the booming Australian infrastructure sector is the shortage of skilled workers. Having trained more than 80,000 workers over the past 25 years, Coates is hoping to train and upskill even more at its new expanded facilities in Sydney to help plug skills gaps and support the large pipeline of activity.
Located in Ingleburn in the city’s south-west, the new facility can host three courses simultaneously per day, including undercover spaces for HRW licence and competency-based training, such as Confined Space and Elevated Work Platform, and a large soft stand area to facilitate civil training, including Excavator, Skid Steer and Install Trench Support.
Key features include a confined space simulator and rescue kit for Confined Space training; a ‘circuit’ including static and mobile scaffolding, power poles, roofers kits and static lines for Working Safely At Heights; and a wide range of dynamic and static loads for Forklift licence training.
“This capacity will increase to four courses per day when building works are complete towards the end of the year,” said Paul McDonough, Manager of Coates’ Registered Training Organisation (RTO).
Infrastructure construction is forecast to grow by 7.5 per cent in 2022, fuelled by record federal and state government spending on infrastructure to drive the country’s economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. To help address the skills shortage, state governments have also established training initiatives.
“In the Hunter Valley, for example, we’ll be training around 250 Indigenous workers with partner Aboriginal Resources Group over the next six months to support transport infrastructure projects in the region, as part of the NSW Government’s Skilling for Recovery initiative,” said Paul.
“We’ll be equipping the participants to work on these projects with training in areas such as Traffic Control, Forklift, Telehandler, Elevated Work Platform, Work At Heights and Construction Industry Induction Cards.”
Coates is also revamping its training facilities in other states, adding a sizeable weather shelter to accommodate undercover training for running two courses simultaneously at its Melbourne facility in Brooklyn.
Meanwhile, the Perth training hub will relocate to the Coates head office in Belmont by the end of the year. “This will allow us to work even closer with our Industrial Solutions team to deliver training for customers in the resources and energy sectors,” said Paul.
Alongside these upgraded facilities, Coates has an established national training network with sites in Cambridge in Tasmania, Green Fields in South Australia and Kwinana in Western Australia. But the Coates team can provide high-risk work and safety training anywhere in the country.
“It doesn’t necessarily have to be customers coming to our sites,” said Paul. “Our national network means we can deliver training at customer sites anywhere in Australia, seven days a week, including night shifts if required, or at suitable Coates branches across Australia.”
Participants can expect top-quality training. Coates is acknowledged as a leading training provider, exceeding the national benchmark for quality according to National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) data.
“Our trainer assessors are all industry-current and industry-experienced, while the national scale of Coates means we have access to Australia’s widest range of fleet and equipment for training purposes, which makes us unique as an RTO,” Paul said.
Popular courses include Elevated Work Platform, Confined Spaces, Traffic Control, Load and Unload Plant, and Cargo Restraint. There’s also a growing demand for specialty civil courses such as Install Trench Support and Identify, Locate and Protect Underground Assets.
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Im looking to do a load restraint course for truck driving