Training Requirements for Heights & Confined Spaces

Training qualifications in working at height and for accessing confined spaces are a key component for delivering worker safety, however it is strongly advised that operators also have the right level of both experience and skills to be able to safely operate in these environments. Importantly and often forgotten, the need for a rescue plan is also highly critical if something actually goes wrong.

Competent Person

Publications from state and territory governments, such as regulations and Codes of Practice (These can be accessed directly from this site in the ‘Publications’ tab) as well as Standards documents, frequently reference the definition of a Competent Person to assist in this process.

This definition can be difficult for people to determine what a ‘competent person’ actually is. There is no trade qualification or degree in ‘height safety’ and therefore companies must reference other materials to assist them to assess if a person is competent.

Height Safety and Confined Space Access does not require a License

There are presently no regulator requirements for a person to hold a height safety or confined space ‘license’, such as one that might be required for operating an elevated working platform (EWP), or for performing high risk work. There are however other sources of information that can be used to assist in defining the minimum training requirements for operators:

1. AS/NZS1891.4 – Appendix E – Guidance for the provision of training & competency – This part of the Standard references the types of levels of training required for people to perform different roles when working at height, from operator to supervisor to manager level;
2. AS2865 – Confined Spaces – Appendix D – Guidance for the provision of training & competency assessment;
3. Codes of Practice from regulators – as detailed on this site in the ‘Publications’ tab.
4. Vocational Training – Delivered by Registered Training Organisations (RTOs), vocational training is available in short-course form for operators to gain the theory and practical training they need to perform work-at-height tasks. RTOs issue certificates of competency to individuals that can pass the theory and practical components of their training courses;
5. Experience through supervised work – Each site / structure / environment where height safety risks exist are unique. Given the different variable of fall risks on each site, vigilance is required to ensure the application of safe work practices is taken under the guidance of experienced operators. In essence, a supervisor with previous experience in working in these environments that understand the risk and how to mitigate them is essential to maintain the standard of safety on site. A log book of work undertaken or detailed experience in working in these environments may be the type of evidence that can be used to assess a person’s competence;
6. Reference to WAHA training course recommendation documents – although the above sources of information are useful, the competencies issued by RTOs do not extend to prescribing specific tasks that may be required to be demonstrated by an operator doing a competency based course. For example, the issue of a competency issued by one RTO is technically equivalent to that issued by another, however the course content is not prescriptive. One RTO may conduct a training course in 4 hours and issue a qualification that another RTO issues after 8 hours of training. This confusion is something the WAHA has addressed by issuing guidelines on:
   – Minimum course content
   – Practical exercises to demonstrate and assess
   – Teacher-student ratio recommendations
   – Course length recommendations

Accessing Height Safety & Confined Space Training Courses

Industry recognises vocational education training providers as generally the best source of formal qualifications in working at height, confined space access and rescue, as students are issued a certificate of competency for the qualification on successful completion of the training.

Registered Training Organisations (RTOs)

Vocational training is provided by both Registered Training Organisations (RTOs) and non-RTO’s, however those companies that are not RTOs are unable to issue a certificate for a ‘Nationally Recognised Competency’, as they are not ASQA-approved. This does not mean their training itself is necessarily of lower quality, however a person buying training may not have the skills to assess the training quality without some form of third-party validation.

ASQA’s role

The Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA) is the national regulator for Australia’s vocational education and training sector. ASQA regulates courses and training providers (RTOs) to ensure nationally approved quality standards are met.

ASQA, assesses the providers to ensure the training delivered meets the bare-minimum requirements for Nationally-recognised competencies on their scope of training. They also monitor the RTO on an ongoing basis for their diligence in storing student records, managing their finances and deposits on training fees and generally acts as a watchdog on performance.

For this reason, the WAHA recommends the training in working at heights that is offered by RTOs that can then issue a Nationally recognised qualification is the first choice to make.

In order to assess if a company is registered to deliver work at height training, the best source is the government website www.training.gov.au. Searches of the site can be made by provider name, course name, state and other variables – alternatively if a vendor provides you with their RTO ID number, you can perform a search on the currency of the RTO’s status with respect to their approval by ASQA. Vendors with suspended or withdrawn status may still offer training, however they will not pass the minimum requirements for registration with ASQA at the present time.

Training Course Quality

Just because an RTO trains a person and then issues them a certificate of competence in a height safety following successful course completion, this does not always mean their course is necessarily of excellent quality. Whilst ASQA generally oversees the quality systems of a training organisation. they do not perform a quality ‘test’ or assessment over the content of one course provided by an RTO, as the competency guidelines are simply too wide to evaluate. ASQA also oversees literally thousands of training companies and cannot possibly understand the strength of each due to a lack of the specific knowledge required.

For this reason, the WAHA has developed guidelines for RTOs to ensure they are offering minimum training content and practical assessments. This content is shown in the training recommendations section in this website.