What should be considered for a training management system?

A training management system is the framework for conducting training and assessing. It includes the processes necessary to:

• develop materials
• establish internal and external communication and reporting mechanisms
• allocate appropriate internal and external resources
• conduct training and assessment
• achieve continuous improvement through audits and reviews of the training system.

A training needs analysis will help identify the training requirements for organisations, departments, groups, positions or individuals. It is a key step and should be conducted in consultation with relevant personnel (e.g. supervisors and managers). The training needs analysis should identify training needs and skill gaps, and areas for future development and recruitment.

The first step is to create a list of positions and, for each position, identify what competencies are required to safely undertake the role.

If a unit of competence is not available for a task, then the appropriate industry skills council should be contacted for advice on developing site-specific material.

Once populated, the list of positions and competencies should be reviewed to determine the mandatory and non-mandatory units. The names of current employees in the identified positions can then be entered. Current proven competencies are then added, followed by a gap analysis on training requirements.

Once gaps in training and assessment have been identified, an effective training solution can be developed and implemented.

A unit of competency or competency standard is generally developed by industry. It identifies the skills and knowledge required by a person to work safely in a particular task. The unit of competency provides guidance on appropriate training and assessment methods and evidence requirements.

Registered training organisations (RTOs) use units of competency to develop and deliver training and assessments to a national standard to issue qualifications or part thereof. If a site does not ask a RTO to deliver training and assessment for a particular unit, the site should still review the requirements of the national standard against its own training and assessment material to ensure the standards are met.

A system should be in place to ensure personnel are retrained periodically and when:

• systems of work or plant and equipment change
• new systems of work or plant and equipment are introduced.

A risk assessment should be conducted on site to determine at what intervals reassessment on the different parts of plant and equipment should happen. The typical timeframe for refresher training in industry is between 6 months and 3 years depending on the risk.

An appropriate assessment method needs to be chosen to gather the evidence required to verify current competence. Consider innovative methods to ensure people are actively engaged in the training and assessments. It is not sufficient to tell people what they need to know — that information needs to be retained and applied in their daily work.

Supervisors need access to workers’ training and assessment records so that they can confirm a worker is competent before assigning tasks. The worker should be able to access their own training records at any time so that they know what they are deemed competent in — this forms part of a safe system of work.

The legislation does not require original documents to be kept on site as long as they can be accessed (e.g. electronic copies are sufficient). Records of all instructions, training, retraining, assessment or reassessment may be kept electronically and should be made available to the specific worker, their supervisor and regulators as required.

Maintaining records of training and assessment provided to workers and visitors is an essential element of an effective training system. Records should be kept confidential from other parties.

For instruction, training, retraining, assessment or reassessment, the following should be recorded:

• participants
• provision dates
• provider details
• training material used
• knowledge assessment used
• skills assessment used
• result of the assessment or reassessment.

It is prudent to monitor and review all parts of the design, development and implementation of the training and assessment system. Monitoring and review may include:

• peer reviews of delivery
• feedback forms from attendees
• task observations
• spot checks of completed training and assessment material.

The department recommends an audit is conducted on the training management system at least every 2 years to ensure the site is meeting the requirements of its own system and legislative requirements.

Please refer to related information below: