The Southern Institute of technology (SIT) has recently secured funding to establish an industry training centre that will provide co-ordinated health and safety training to meet safety and workplace practise needs of major regional and emerging industry, and provide a high standard of training that will increase the HSE competence of local companies wishing to support oil and gas exploration that may occur in the future.
The development of the training centre will occur in three phases. Phase one consists mainly of consolidation of current training practises (including SIT’s current and existing health, hygiene and safety training) which will be developed for industries currently operating in the region. This phase is scheduled to be completed by February 2009. Phase two is the development of training programmes that meet specific training needs of existing industry within the region. Phase three includes training for new industries to the region, such as oil and gas exploration. The implementation target for phase three is set as February 2011 but is subject to the confirmation of Great South Basin exploration programmes.
Local stakeholders have highlighted the importance of a high level of Health and Safety Environment (HSE) standards for local companies to engage in oil and gas exploration support services.