Safety Officer Training

EXCEPT for WHSO and WHSR courses all of our other courses are conducted for companies on-site at the companies request.

The Queensland Workplace Health and Safety Act requires all companies that employ more than 30 people to have a qualified Workplace Health and Safety Officer on staff. The person selected for the training generally should be in a management role, have good written and verbal communication skills and be genuinely interested in improving the company's safety systems.

A "qualified" person means a person who holds a certificate of authority prescribed under regulation for appointment as a Workplace Health and Safety Officer.

The accredited Workplace Health and Safety Officer's course consists of six modules. Modules 1,2 and 3 make up Stage 1 and these are conducted over five days.

To complete the WHSO certificate the participant must then complete the relevant module corresponding to his or her industry group.

This is commonly referred to as Stage 2.

The modules are as follows :

Module 4 - Construction industry (4 days)

Module 5 - Manufacturing industry (3 days)

Module 6 - Services industry (2 days)

Industry electives

The Industry Elective WHSO course attended would depend on the predominant activity of the particular workplace (e.g. either industrial, service or construction). Where the predominant activity is say construction related, the construction elective should be pursued.

It is recognised that the management of a particular workplace would be in the best position to analyse and determine the nature of the predominant activity carried out at that workplace. Management should therefore be responsible for nominating the most appropriate course for the WHSO.

Although, it would be unlikely that the WHSO will be required to attend any combination of the industrial, service or construction electives, in some cases it will be advisable for the person to attend supplementary training on the other electives.

The applicant must successfully complete the core module and at least one industry elective module.

Additional WHSO training

A WHSO is only required to complete one industry elective as part of the course. Only one "generic" certificate is issued to a WHSO regardless of which industry elective unit was completed. Evidence for WHSO training in a particular industry will be provided by the organisation which delivers the approved WHSO training.

Where activities of the new workplace are of a completely different nature, it is highly desirable that the WHSO undergo supplementary industry elective training to acquire the additional industry competencies.

As each of the industry elective units are "stand alone" courses, supplementary training will require the WHSO to complete the entire elective unit.

This certification is valid for a period of 5 years from the date of completion of Stage 2. At the end of 5 years the Safety Officer must then attend a Recertification course (currently 2 days) to revalidate the ticket.