ENA’s policy to support a nationally consistent approach to the recognition of trade qualifications in the energy networks industry is consistent with the emergence of an Australian energy market governed by national regulation.

Initially the national passport system was developed for the electricity supply industry (ESI) after various states introduced electrical worker passports for employees and contractors accessing electricity networks. In response ENA decided to develop the ESI Network Passport Guideline to encourage a nationally consistent passport format that identified authorisations, refresher training and competencies relevant to accessing the electricity network.

Concurrently ENA took the in-principle decision to develop a similar document for the gas industry.

The passport framework, being developed by the ENA Gas Committee aims to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of safe work systems by enabling the portability of workers’ competencies, refresher training and authorisation records, and evidence that these have remained up to date. The passport data will be traceable by an audit process.

Consequently, the ENA Gas Committee is finalising the National Gas Supply Industry Passport Guidelines and Administrative Principles to be launched at Energy 21C conference held from 11-14 November 2007.

These guidelines and principles will support the targeted outcomes of the Council of Australian Government (COAG) Skills Taskforce, which is operating under the auspices of the Australian Government Department of Education, Science & Training (DEST). COAG’s objectives include instituting processes to achieve more effective mutual recognition arrangements across States and Territories to enable people with trade qualifications to move freely around Australia without undergoing additional tests and registration processes.

The GSI passport is expected to promote recognition of qualifications, competencies, authorisations, refresher training and work skills across jurisdictional boundaries. They will also provide greater opportunity for gas workers and flexibility for the network operators by facilitating national consistency and therefore mobility of personnel across jurisdictional boundaries.

These advantages are timely given the nation’s current critical skills shortage, ageing work force and industry ownership changes. For example, in the gas networks industry it is worth noting that 40 per cent of industry trades people are over 45. Therefore the ability to source skilled staff from anywhere in Australia and to locate them where needed, becomes vital for the industry’s capacity to meet its infrastructure needs.

Only a network operator or their agent will have the authority to issue passports which will be issued to personnel who are required to access the gas networks where a network operator operates voluntarily under the guidelines and principles.

The passport will include all relevant qualifications and competencies to the gas industry and work being undertaken on the gas networks (be they under the current national training framework, historical training or network operator / owner specific). Therefore the passport will be a personal and portable record of an individual's training and training outcomes, that is, qualifications, competencies, authorisations, company specific training, inductions, and refresher training.

The document provides a mechanism to support training systems but will not eliminate or replace the obligation of employers to maintain training records. It may take the form of a physical book or smart card with training records, or simply an identity card with a unique identification number which is referenced to a network operator training database. It is also important to note that the passport system has been given in-principle support by the Gas Technical Regulators Council.

The Network Operator will be expected to consider the qualifications, competencies, authorisations, refresher training and inductions as outlined in the Guideline when developing a passport. These qualifications and competencies will be those generally awarded by registered training organisations or assessors. They will not be time based and generally when awarded will be for life.

ENA will monitor the use and impact of the Guidelines and Administrative Principles and consequently may seek to review and make amendments as may be appropriate from time to time. Furthermore, ENA in association with Network Operators will determine the application fee as required from time to time for the issue of each Passport.

The ENA GSI Passport Guidelines will be launched at Energy 21C on 13 November, where further information on the administration and operation of the Passport will be presented.