WHY do so many new starters in mining fail?
It’s not like this is a new problem, with three in five new starters failing in the first six months being a long-term industry average.
It was going on when I first started underground in 1994 and continues today. Every time we hit an upswing and have to hire new starters, and there are always issues retaining them.
To be fair to the employers, they have over the years (and continue to) spent large amounts of time and money to address this problem – but with limited success.
Underground Training was founded by a group of Western Australian shift bosses in 2009 who were frustrated by the high turnover of the inexperienced staff on their crews because inexperienced miners learning on the job often have safety issues as they learn.
Being a WA shift boss is a statutory position, so if anything goes wrong on your crew, you are the first one standing in front of the magistrate.
Having a crew with lots of people with less than six months to a years’ experience, still learning the fundamentals and trying to understand the culture, can be problematic at best, and extremely stressful at worst.
It was getting to the point that every time they returned to site from break, there was a new face that needed to be brought up to speed on processes, procedures, culture and the inner workings of the mine.
Watching people failing in the same ways over and over again inspired the shift bosses to write a three-day training course.
The training is everything they wanted a new starter to know as shift bosses before they went down the hole on their crews.
The training isn’t designed to replace anything that happens to a new starter when they get to site, rather it’s to bring them up to speed on what is going to be expected of them on site.
Culture shock is a big issue and having someone able to understand what’s going on from day one, is a huge boost to safety for both the new worker and the crew they are working with.
Between 2010-2013 more than 300 people got starts after completing the training with companies all over Australia.
In 2016 the training was moved online and now takes the form of four online courses and a short seminar that addresses the culture of the industry.
What does an employer get out of hiring someone that has completed the training?
They get a new starter that can find their feet in weeks instead of months.
The first drive underground with the shift boss goes from what can be an overwhelming experience, to a big game of eye spy for the educated new starter.
Employers are welcome to take part in our Workready partnership program with KCA Site Services, giving an employer a labour hire risk-free option to bring new starters into their workforce.
Employers are welcome to hire direct from the training as we also offer a DIY option for students to apply directly to the employers.
If the candidate can get the mining questions right in the interview and meet the employers other requirements, it quickly becomes a win-win for both parties.
If they get the mining questions wrong, we recommend that you don’t hire and move onto the next candidate.
When interviewing, the people that really want the career end up selling themselves to the employers with the extent of their mining knowledge.
What does the new starter get?
For a new starter going in green (the industry term for a new starter with no mining knowledge on day one) is like sending them to the moon.
A plane ride to site (for most) and straight into inductions, tickets and everything else in their first couple of weeks on site.
It’s a lot of information that has to be learned in a short amount of time.
While people are encouraged to ask questions, most people will ask a few and then stop because they don’t want to appear stupid or slow or it just becomes information overload for them.
Not understanding important information leads to safety issues problems and turnover. Then there’s the culture and etiquette to navigate which is often learned as the new starter goes, leading to even more turnover.
Underground Training’s packages of Workready and DIY have been designed to create a win-win for both employer and new starter.
The new starter gets their start in the industry by being able to answer the mining questions in the interview.
The employers get a new starter that can understand what’s going on in the morning meeting on day one.
As far as safety goes that’s priceless.
For more information and to find out how you can take advantage of our partnership program for new starters on your underground mine sites around Australia, visit our web address or email [email protected]. For a labour hire solution with educated new starters, call KCA Site Services on 1300 143 947 for more information.
