In a sector facing significant disruption, skilled talent is a major value driver. However, a skill shortage in the Australian mining sector is holding many companies back. According to a recent report, talent attraction and retention; regulatory compliance change; and health, safety and security risks are in the top 10 mining industry risks.
In May 2024, mining vacancies reached 29.9% more than pre-COVID levels. Prior to this, in a 2023 report, mining leaders had already identified talent shortages as having a negative impact on production targets and strategic goals. Finding skilled workers is a critical issue for mining workforce competency, highlighting the need for effective training pathways.
Mining recorded 10 worker fatalities in 2022–23, with a fatality rate of 3.6 per 100,000 workers (higher than the national average). Median compensation for serious claims in the sector was $34,285, more than double the $14,416 across all industries (Safe Work Australia, 2024).
To close the skills gap, mining companies need to leverage technology to unify competency, authorisations, and training data. This is how leaders can gain the visibility they need to act before risks escalate. Knowing where competency is strong, what skills gaps exist, and what needs to be done to fill these gaps are key steps to improving skills competency in mining.
Due to the rapid pace of change in the mining sector as well as an aging workforce, identifying skill gaps isn’t easy. Keeping up means adopting technology that provides complete workforce visibility. Key features to look for when choosing a platform include the ability to see role-specific data and fast training needs analysis. With an effective tool and process in place for quickly identifying skill gaps, mining organisations can improve productivity, safety training, and compliance standards.
Once you have gathered data from your audit, organise it into a skills matrix. This provides a clear picture of employees’ skills and competencies to make sure they are aligned to what the company needs. With a workforce competency management platform such as Skills, you can use the auto-generated dashboard to view this instantly.
In an ever-changing sector, it’s not just about training new recruits. There is also a need to retrain existing staff for the skills the mining sector requires. Once you’ve identified the skill gaps, you can develop materials and assessments to train a competent workforce.
Depending on the needs of your workforce, this could include a mix of site inductions, on-the-job training, instructor led sessions, and digital learning. To develop an effective training program, consider enabling collaboration between RTO trainers and workplace mentors/coaches. To track and ensure competency, choose a training management system that unifies data across the organisation. It should also combine accredited training, workforce capability, and authorisations.
The less barriers you have to learning the better. Make sure all staff have an easy learning journey with engaging assessments and learning plans delivered in a user-friendly system. Your platform should do the heavy lifting with a customisable learning journey to suit your organisation, user-friendly learner portals, and mobile apps. Learners and trainers should be able to clearly see what tasks need to be done and the progress that has been made.
Along with investing in autonomous vehicles and drones, leading mining companies are also using powerful data analytics tools and automation. Embracing automation is crucial over the next decade, otherwise mining companies risk being overtaken by competitors. Automating compliance and governance not only saves time, it helps you stay head of expiries, renewals, and approvals.
Keeping workers up to date with technology and regulations is critical for risk mitigation and safety. It reduces the likelihood of accidents and ensures compliance, all while increasing productivity. As mining is constantly adapting to new technologies and regulation changes, this ongoing training should include both theoretical and practical activities.
It’s not enough to train employees and consider the job done. Tracking mining workforce competency plays a key role in ensuring employees have the right skills and safety training for real-world scenarios. This maintains a high level of safety and performance while fostering a culture of continuous improvement. To evaluate training and progress, set clear objectives, actively align training and assessments to these objectives, and set up a feedback system for both trainers and learners.
Taking steps to improve mining workforce competency is key to safety, compliance, and performance in one of Australia’s highest risk industries. If you’re ready to close the skills gap, book a Skills discovery call today for a tailored workforce competency assessment.
A solid way of achieving high learner engagement online is through your LMS, which should be able to provide the ability to author online content, lessons and assessment with interactive question types.
We sat down with Shane Darwin, CEO of JBHXR and JB Hunter, to chat about his work in implementing Extended Reality into training. At JB Hunter, over 1000 learners have completed blended online and virtual reality assessments over the past year using JBHXR, the aXcelerate LMS and aXcelerate Assessment Engine.
