An urgent roundtable was held in Sydney recently to try and reach agreement on the future training needs of the refrigeration and air conditioning industry.
The roundtable was part of a national training review aimed at addressing critical skill gaps in the Certificate III in Airconditioning and Refrigeration course.
Despite extensive consultation including the release of a discussion paper earlier this year, achieving industry wide consensus has proven difficult.
All sections of industry were represented at the roundtable with discussion zeroing in on skills shortages, the impact of changes in technology, equipment, controls and the handling of new generation refrigerants.
Participants agreed that upskilling the workforce was necessary as the current training regime is out of date.
Participants said industry needed to take action immediately and while the current review needed to future proof the workforce, trainees still need to grasp the basic skills to install, diagnose, commission and understand electrical safety, technology, real time monitoring and maintenance.
The roundtable was hosted by Australian Industry Standards (AIS) on behalf of the Electrotechnology Industry Reference Committee (IRC).
The AIS estimates the Electrotechnology industry is worth $87.1 billion in revenue and employs 340,000 people.
Organisations represented at the roundtable included Refrigerant Reclaim Australia, Refrigerants Australia, the Australian Refrigeration Council, Australian Refrigeration Association, Department of Environment & Energy, Airconditioning and Refrigeration Equipment Manufacturers Association, AIRAH and the Refrigeration and Airconditioning Contractors Association.
AIRAH executive manager, Phil Wilkinson, said the roundtable created an arena for dialogue.
“The collaboration of key industry stakeholders and leaders in a robust but convivial atmosphere enabled everyone’s concerns and needs to be heard. We were able to reach a very definite direction about the next stage of developing the new Certificate III,” he said.
Outcomes and decisions reached at the roundtable will be captured in a recommendations paper and submitted to the IRC for consideration.
The IRC will direct and commission the relevant Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) to undertake the review of the Cert III Refrigeration and Air-conditioning Qualification.
Industry also identified a gap in relation to the handling of A2 refrigerants and the recovery of refrigerants from decommissioned equipment.
To address this the Australian Industry and Skills Committee has commissioned a project to develop two new Units of Competency in the UEE Electrotechnology Training Package. This project will be undertaken at the same time as the current Cert III review.
The training review must be completed by June 2019.