QUARRY MANAGERS ADVISORY PANEL – Part 1

Ron Kerr, CMPA Honorary CEO

Following is the transcript of Honorary CEO, Mr Ron Kerr’s speech as presented at the IOQ Bendigo Conference.

I would like to thank you for the opportunity to put forward the CMPA’s views on education modules for the Extractive Industry.

Before commencing I would like to give a brief history of my experience in the extractive industry. At the age of 13 I bogged my first crushing plant (Bellfield Dam – Grampians), at the age of 19 I was assisted in leaving home and being directed to work in Western Australia for a company known as Readymix. At the age of 28, following the death of my father, I chose to go out on my own into the mobile crushing field.

At the age of 50 I stand here before you tonight with less ambition to bog a crushing plant (because there is too much shoveling!) and concerns that most people have forgotten that our business is an art, a craft, something which can only be achieved with teamwork, and results in dignity, ownership and pride. The true reasons for enjoying work.

To understand the issue and the significance of the lack of government and industry support pertaining to education:

• One only has to ask one selves how many of their employees have attended and achieved any units in Certificate 2 in the Extractive Industries Training Package.
• One only has to look at the dreadful statistics pertaining to the attrition of industry employees attempting to attain management qualifications, now known as Certificate 4.
• One only has to look at the fact that over 30% of our industry has clear literacy and language support needs as recognised by the Department of Education Science and Training.
• One only has to look at the lack of understanding by owners, managers, and employees as to how they even initiate training programs within their companies or workplaces.
• One only has to look at the limited number of RTOs who are authorised by ANTA to conduct training and assessment in the Extractive Industries Training Package.
• One only has to look at their company’s Chart of Accounts or expenditure allocations to understand how little significance is placed on education.

From the CMPA’s point of view, a presentation on the ‘Education Modules for the Extractive Industries’ can best be presented through the mirroring of the Association’s Statement of Purpose with the education activities that have been, or will be undertaken by, or opinions sought of the CMPA over the next 12 months.

The Association’s Statement of Purpose was established with the input of all it’s Members and came about because of an underlying need and desperation that their interests were not, and could never be represented, or assistance given by any of the bodies that were representing the industry in 1999.

Issues such as exponential bond reassessments, overwhelming document management obligations, quarry isolation, collapse of industry networking, materials pricing reflecting rates received 30 years earlier, a perception that Government bodies such as Vic Roads and regulators such as our department were not interested in the concerns and problems being faced by businesses particularly within regional areas, and the deskilling of our workforce through ageing made the creation of the Association and its statement a simple task with little pain.

The CMPA’s Statement of Purpose reads:

“The CMPA will:

• Conduct its affairs with honesty and integrity
• Demonstrate its commitment to the:
  • Viability of the industry
  • Protection of the environment
  • Community in which it exists
• Vigorously pursue with the government and others issues of widespread concern to members
• Demonstrate leadership and a sense of direction for the industry
• Act as a resource and provide support to members through the delivery of cost savings and assistance in complying with legal obligations
• Foster unity and co-operation between members and others
• Promote continuous improvement through education, training, and other activities”

The first activity that the CMPA listed in its Statement of Purpose was to vigorously pursue with the Government and others issues of widespread concern to Members.

This can clearly be identified in that over the last 3 years, financial expenditure in education has equalled over 30% of the Association’s total expenditure.

One could call this commitment. Issues that further underpin this concept of pursuit are:

• Within the first year of its existence the CMPA was in negotiation with Box Hill TAFE to address the concerns of Certificate IV which had resulted in significant adjustments in cost and duration, and been made more industry specific.
• Our presence on the board reviewing the Extractive Industries Training Package where we ensured that all hard rock quarry, sand, gravel and recycling businesses could present their employees with the choice to achieve Certificate II or III with the capital present on their site. In other words, we fought for the inclusion of many more units and at the same time we argued vigorously for a reduction in the number of units required in Certificate II and succeeded. This was to ensure that employees could succeed and achieve something within their work area and hold their heads up proudly.
• Our continual advocating of the industry’s role to be clearly defined within the Year 12 career guide, something that the ESTB has advised that they are working on but we still have no resolution. (We have been talking about this for 2 years now and will not stop until we see a successful result)
• Our sole voice in ensuring that our industry sector retained its OTTE funding
• Our persistency in trying to obtaining Red Card recognition for those who have achieved the Work Safe unit to ensure that we have a vocational basis for managing employee safety built into our businesses, not just a quick fix that the Red Card seems to be portraying.

The second activity that the CMPA listed in its Statement of Purpose was to demonstrate leadership and a sense of direction for the industry by taking hold of education through not just an individual committee or members, but through the commitment of the Management Committee and Association’s financial resources from day one.

• The first of these projects was the Work Safely Reference Manual which required in excess of $60,000 and the involvement of all members and suppliers, employees, consultants, and regulators
• The second is the development of the risk schedule for all quarry managers which linked quarry employee hours, tonnage, blasting, and area exposed to the level of certification that would be appropriate as presented to the QMAP over 2 years ago

The third activity that the CMPA listed in its Statement of Purpose was to act as a resource and provide support to members through the delivery of cost savings and assistance in complying with legal obligations.

In this area, the CMPA has developed numerous documents and daily reporting forms for use by Members and their employees including:

• Work Safely Reference Manual
• Pre-Start and End Day Checklists for Mobile Plant, Crushing Plant, and Drill Rigs
• Collation of general industry guideline documents and Act packs
• Bi monthly newsletter
• Education newsletter

One may ask how the newsletter, which is produced every two months, falls into the concept of a resource specific to education models in the future – I would strongly recommend that you take a copy of this at the end of the evening and I think that the alignment of this document to education will become obvious.

The forth activity that the CMPA listed in its Statement of Purpose was to foster unity and cooperation between members and others. On this topic, we have in the last 12 months personified this concept with the first industry workshop (drilling) to which in excess of 90 people attended being regulators, owners, educators, employees, managers, and suppliers.

This has been further quantified by very successful General and Annual General Meetings, with the networking and respect by others of CMPA Members being spin-offs of this.

The fifth activity that the CMPA listed in its Statement of Purpose was to promote continuous improvement through education.

To be continued in Issue 19 of the CMPA News

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