Apprenticeship safety will be a key area of focus in 2024, with this work to be bolstered through the formation of a new apprentice and trainee safety committee.

The new Apprentice and Trainee Training and Safety Committee will be chaired by SA Skills Commissioner Cameron Baker and will comprise of organisations that have responsibilities for oversight of apprentice and trainee training, safety and wellbeing, including SafeWork SA.

The new Apprentice and Trainee Training and Safety Committee will begin work in March to ensure additional quality on-job training and safe workplace initiatives for more than 28,000 apprentices and trainees across South Australia.

Significantly, in a national-first, it will also include representatives of those who will be impacted by the work – providing an avenue for direct guidance from apprentices and trainees, with the Apprentice of the Year, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Student of the Year and Trainee of the Year all on the committee.

With many apprentices and trainees aged between 16 and 21 years old, and inexperienced in the world of work, the SA Skills Commission is committed to supporting safe workplace initiatives.

“Helping them navigate workplaces for the first time and ensuring they are provided with the on-job training they signed up for, and their safety, both physical and psychological, are key priorities for me and the team at the Skills Commission,” said Cameron Baker, SA Skills Commissioner.

“The formation of the Apprentice and Trainee Training and Safety Committee is an important step in protecting some of the state’s most vulnerable workers.”

“We are pleased to take the lead in this important work to develop lasting changes and ensure we are best placed as a state to meet the skills needs of the future.”

The formation of the committee follows strong action taken in 2023 to improve apprenticeship education and safety.

The Department for Education, in partnership with the Skills Commissioner:

• Conducted proactive outreach to over 1,700 employers to educate them on their responsibilities in relation to their apprentices and trainees, an increase of 3% on the previous year.
• Investigated 36 employers for non-compliance with their obligations, an increase of 29 from the previous year.
• Imposed 18 sanctions upon non-compliant employers, an increase of 11 from the previous year.

The main types of non-compliances investigated in 2023 include:

• Failures to provide adequate and/or appropriate supervision (this would include issues associated with bullying and harassment, etc.)
• Failures to release apprentices for training or to adequately progress them in their training (including not letting them attend off-job training and/or not providing on-job requirements)
• Failure to provide full scope of work to enable to apprentice to achieve competency across all aspects of the trade or vocation (which might also include issues with licensing).

The most common regulatory response is applying conditions to an employers registration. Common conditions include requirements for the employer to provide evidence of appropriate supervision and/or training, to limit employers from taking on new apprentices or hosting apprentices without a risk assessment by the Department first, and ensuring the apprentice understands their rights and obligations and where to seek assistance if required.

Additional sanctions have included prohibiting an employer from employing apprentices and cancelling their registration, suspending an employer’s registration (until further notice or specific compliance issues are addressed), and issuing compliance notices requiring employers to take specific actions to correct non-compliances.