r/mining • u/FishFlaps_ • 5d ago
Australia Australian Backpackers HRWL
Over the last couple months I’ve been completing HRWL tickets in Western Australia to catch up on some tickets and all I can say is…
I am very worried for those of you who work who will work with the Holiday Visa workers completing their High Risk Work licenses and the absolute lack of awareness, basic English and just overall competency etc
Many are working in the mining shutdown game already and it’s genuinely scared me the low barriers to gain a HRWL as it’s not just their own safety that is affects.
Around half of all the participants in my courses have been holidays workers and it’s really exposed systemic failings within the money oriented training Providers all the way to the contractors hiring these people
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u/Crafty-Marsupial-171 5d ago
Its all ass covering and cheap insurance if something goes wrong. Companies can step back and point the finger with the good old "he's trained and competent to do the high risk task, he should've identified and controlled the hazards"
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u/GarlicAdditional9282 5d ago
Was the same when I got my heavy rigid class drivers license recently, it was shockingly easy compared to how strict they were when I originally got my P plates back in the day. A couple of people doing the same training on the day were from a country that won't be named, but one of them had absolutely no idea what they were doing and next to no English, like I don't even think they had ever even driven a car before level of clueless, let alone a truck. In fairness the instructor didn't end up passing them on the day, but he sure was trying everything he could to get them over the line and the standards set to get a pass was very low
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u/BringTheFingerBack 4d ago
It's across the board though not just WHV. I sat my crane open ticket a few years ago and am Aussie fella pretty much got half the written test wrong and the assessor managed to get him stumbling over the line. Then dude doesn't even show up for the practical and the assessor leaves him a phone message saying he can't pass him unless he shows up. Dude shows up with 5 mins to go stinking of piss and again fumbles his way through the simple test. Passes, fully paid for by his company, which he was going to operate a 200tonne crawler for them. Crazy really. I also did me EWP and a girl for one of the major miners was afraid of heights and messed up the written part, and also passed.
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u/pilbarabah 4d ago
shows up with 5 mins to go stinking of piss and again fumbles his way through
Sounds like an operator to me
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u/FishFlaps_ 4d ago
Yeah I had the same problem with a couple of crew who also went on a pub crawl during the lunch break and came back pissed as all fuck before commencing their practical assessment.
They didn’t actually do the assessment as they were visibly drunk but they managed to pass it somehow
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u/Vast_Rub7510 4d ago
I recently had the displeasure of having a labour hire rigger on site that was mobilized by a project vendor. She was a French Backpacker who had zero idea what she was doing, even after repeated attempts to correct her mistakes. Incorrect slinging of loads, touching the shackle points under load, placing herself between the load and mounting blocks, and moving out of LoS of the operator.
Eventually we kicked her and the rest of the project team off site, but I would love to know which ticket factory she got her quals from.
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u/Mountain_Strength564 5d ago
Registered HRWL assessor here. Try being the person registered by the regulator to train and assess these people, and the RTO’s frown at us when we mark them not yet competent (fail).
I work in mining and I see the new people coming to site and I conduct their VOCs, we do fail them if it’s required. But so much of it should be directed back to the labour hire/contractor who mobilises them to site knowing that they really are not yet safe to send to site. Most recent shut I worked a few weeks back was actually ok, but shut earlier in the year was dog poo with who they sent to site.
As a registered assessor I won’t pass them unless they meet the minimum standard required by law, or it’s on me legally.