To provide context, this article is written end January 2024 with the goal being to inform the niche client base Lime Green serves on what is happening with accreditation. That is, the client who:
This has been established! Similar methods used to establish first aid are being used for the other programs. Read more about first aid here
There was some discussion as to which SETA will work with QCTO and subject matter experts to establish (structure) fire fighting curriculums. There is a need to replace unit standards like fire fighting techniques 2555250 and also 12484.
Candidates were HWSETA and LGSETA. It was concluded by the SETA’s and QCTO that LGSETA (Local Government SETA) was the most appropriate.
I have made enquiries as to where LGSETA are with the development of the fire program, and the response is that they have not yet submitted an application to QCTO. A person at LGSETA has not yet been appointed to process it. The earliest they will begin to take any meaningful action on it is February 2024.
I am attempting to get more info on this. This is what I have at time of writing. Feel free to get in touch to join efforts and share info.
HWSETA’s consultant Ben van As, 20-30 subject matter experts and stakeholders, and myself have been participating in weekly 3-hour sessions to move this forward.
Here is a quick list of what we are working on:
These programs are being set against legislative requirements (OHS Act, NEMA, COIDA, GSR’s etc.).Target groups identified include community members, employees, employers, supervisors, safety reps, and health and safety officers and managers on various levels.
There has been healthy discussion from active participants engaging in the sessions. E.g. At the last few sessions some of the active participants were Graham at SAIOSH, Alistair at Absolute Health, Reuben Jensen at Lime Green (me), Ken at Intra, David at ProtoAid, Sharon at Hesscon, as well as Francois Smith, Victor Bvurere, Dalene Sheasby, Michelle Bowmer, Jennifer Maritz, Joep Joubert, and Elmerie van Rooyen.
The goal of these sessions has been to:
Download the raw excel working file from here (document belongs to HWSETA). Updated: Current version is 6 Feb 2024
These OHS sessions were going quite nicely and each one has been productive. Unfortunately HWSETA started this process too late though. The urgency is understood by some in government, but not others. The momentum has been interrupted as the last two weekly sessions were cancelled due to technical difficulties on HWSETA’s part. This further resulted in them cancelling any of the remaining sessions “until further notice” and at time of writing, new dates have not been set so the work can continue. NB: Update 6 Feb – the sessions are underway again!
The first question you have is probably “when will these be ready!?”. The short answer is, definitely NOT on time.
The unit standards effectively reach expiry in June this year. Last date for enrolment is end June 2024 which is the last date a training provider can enrol a new learner on a unit standard program (see context of this article). So, at time of writing, there are 5 months to go for unit standard training.
This however, does not take into account the time it takes to gain accreditation. That can be around 6 months at QCTO’s current pace. They have already admitted feeling overwhelmed by the influx of applications. I have scores of applications running for my clients, and that’s just for first aid, and just the ones Lime Green is assisting with. There are many more applications than just what my office handles of course.
In short, if the new QCTO skills programs were all released today (at time of writing), and everyone applied today, they would just make it, or be accredited soon after unit standard expiry (given QCTO’s current pace).
The new programs are not ready though. It is my personal opinion that they are 8 – 24 months away from being established, and only then can SDP’s start the (approx 6 month) application process. So about 1.2 – 3 years for OHS…
I recommend emailing and calling the QCTO about this to express your concerns. Mr Thomas Lata is the person to ask about this. Perhaps more communication from the public will help QCTO understand the urgency. It was disappointing to hear QCTO representatives state in December 2023 “But we still have 6 months, there is time”. That is entirely false as is shown above in section “Timeline”. Also, it gives training businesses zero time to plan, but even of everyone was ready to jump on it, there’s nothing yet to jump on yet.
