Over to you WESTERN ROADS FEDERATION by Cam Dumesny, CEO
SKILLS SHORTAGE – it’s time to change W
estern Roads Federation and others have been in the media highlighting our shortage of not just truck drivers but other industry specialists such as heavy vehicle mechanics and operational staff. Mining transport operators were the first to feel the pinch when the WA Government announced the borders were shut to FIFO workers from the East. But that shortage has now spread.
Expanding Issue As the Mining Haulage carriers ran short of drivers, they began to attract WA truck drivers from other sectors, including some leakage from Agriculture transport. We are also losing drivers from the East -West run to the mines, as drivers on that run have to get tested every seven days and face the restrictions associated with going interstate. In fact, just one of our east-west members, reported having nearly half their fleet parked up because they couldn’t get drivers.
Government Stimulus Makes Problem Worse Whilst everyone welcomes the Government spending on road building and maintenance programs to help kick start the economy, it is also making the skills shortage worse. For example, I have been advised by one agricultural sector transport company that they will be withdrawing drivers from supporting the up-coming harvest as they are prioritising the gravel haulage contracts they won for some road projects. Their reason is that Government infrastructure and related road projects offer longer term stability. So, they are placing a higher priority on allocating drivers to the infrastructure work over the harvest.
Business Groups I called a meeting of my counterparts in CME, WA Farmers and CCIWA to discuss the issue and explain to them that our 14
WATM • October 2020
shortage impacts them too. They agreed that the skills shortage, particularly drivers is a major issue. Note: Farmers have other shortages of skilled labour as well. That agreement was important as it gave our industry credibility with the Government that it wasn’t just us complaining, it was a real issue.
Basic Problem Truck driver licensing schools are operating to a government standard that doesn’t produce a driver companies are confident to employ.
What is being proposed WRF is working on a School to Retirement Plan which will cover how we attract students to our industry, train and up skill them through to attracting older workers who can share their hard-won knowledge with current generations. The two things currently in action are: Medium to Long Term Apprenticeship We have put forward a medium to long term solution. A three-year apprenticeship for the industry. We are supporting a proposal by a member company to pilot this apprenticeship and we are working directly with the Department of Training and Workforce Development on pushing it through. We are quietly confident that this will get up. Short Term: Solution To fill the short term need we have put forward a 21-day program aimed at making people who have a HC licence, but no experience – employable. Apparently, there are quite a few people in this situation. Step One: Attraction and Identification of Drivers WRF and its members will market the program. Participating companies will conduct pre-training interviews to determine the suitability of the driver for employment within their business.
Step Two: Licensing Identified HR and HC drivers are put through the existing Driver Training and Licencing Schools to obtain their MC licences. Two days has been allowed for this; however, the Schools have indicated that one day only may be required for HC to MC. However, Licensing by the Schools does not make them suitably employable by the transport companies, as: • Most Schools only teach and train on a B Double combination, not road trains in order to obtain their MC licence. • There is also a substantive shortfall in knowledge and skills, as evident by the additional training listed in Step Three below. Step Three: Industry Training to Employability The participating companies or industry accredited trainers will then teach and train the drivers in the following aspects that are either insufficiently or not taught by the Licencing Schools. • Road Train combination hook up processes and reversing Be able to set up a road train combination. This requires a detailed understanding of the processes and practising of the skills needed to be able to reverse trailers onto other trailers during the set-up process. • Basic mechanics and fault diagnosis MC Drivers in WA frequently operate in remote and regional areas for prolonged periods. They must be able to conduct basic mechanical maintenance and basic fault diagnosis. • Tyre maintenance and management The management and maintenance of tyres is a major factor in truck road safety in WA. With up to 80 tyres on a road train, operating in a state where only 30% of the regional network is sealed - maintenance and management
