Jobs for the next 5 years

A quick look in the job section in the Saturday papers will reveal that every employer seeking electrician to work in heavy industry has a preference for a Certificate III in instrumentation. Just this week two major companies one in Queensland and one in the Northern Territory are calling for these dual traded people.

According to various statistics there are over 20,000 electrical personnel working within Queensland. The statistics also indicate that the state will need an additional 15,000 more within the next five years.

Hazardous Areas for CSG

EEHA (Electrical Equipment in Hazardous Areas) Training traditionally has been, and still is, a requirement of many companies who have an interest in or responsibility for work being carried out where an explosive atmosphere is or could be present.  Hazardous Area or HA for short training is used to give primarily electrical trade-persons in the CSG sector an insight and understanding of hazardous areas.

 

The training includes the standard activities performed by electricians in hazardous areas including installation, maintenance and testing and focusses on the requirements to perform these tasks in a hazardous area.  For example, interconnectors, pipelines, MLV’s, compressor stations and the LNG plants all qualify as HA’s in some or another.

 

What factors or events will deem an area as hazardous or explosive are also covered in the training as well as the nature of gasses and dusts which make them hazardous. Knowledge of the hazards and of the techniques used to overcome these hazards is reinforced by reference to International and Australian Standards.

 

The various methods used to prevent an explosive situation from occurring are explained in detail including an explanation of how they can prevent an explosion and what will happen if you do not follow correct procedures. The methods covered include exclusion, containment energy limitation and avoidance, better known as:- Exd, Exe, Exi, Exn, ExtD, Exp and so on. Participants are taught not only how they work but also what to look for during an inspection that would make the apparatus non-compliant. They are taught the basic principles in area classification which gives reasons for the area to be called hazardous and how hazardous it may be (zones).

 

 

 

Companies who employ electricians performing tasks in Hazardous Areas would benefit greatly by having their electricians trained in hazardous areas. These electricians will have a greater understanding of the equipment they are working with as well as the reasons behind the construction and installation guidelines for the equipment. This should give companies a sense of security in the knowledge that they are only employing competent trade-persons and will flow on to a greatly reduced risk of explosions and the catastrophic results of them.

 

Hazardous Area training is relevant to electricians who perform tasks in ALL industries where an explosive atmosphere may exist.

 

 

Keith Pattingale - Lead Vocational Teacher

TAFE Queensland SkillsTech - Eagle Farm Campus

Network Fundamentals for Instrumentation and Control Industry for the CSG industry

Industrial IT called 'Network Fundamentals for Instrumentation and Control Industry' has been developed and delivered by TAFE Queensland SkillsTech. Every industry and process is becoming more automated. With CSG proponent, SANTOS using the Emerson Delta V, Origin Energy using the Yokogawa Centum VP system, QGC have gone with ABB 800A, with Arrow Energy adopting the Honeywell, Distributed Control Systems (DCS).


The Industrial IT program objective is to provide a basic understanding of network fundamentals and provide practical skills in configuration, installation and fault finding of an IP based network system including switches, hubs and routers, says SkillsTech Australia. This will include LAN and WAN cables and wireless connectivity. In addition virtual LAN (VLAN), NAT and firewall security will be implemented.


Topics covered in the program include configuring LANs and WANs; hubs; switches; routers; network types; network media; routing and switching fundamentals; the TCP/IP and OSI models; IP addressing; extending switched networks with VLANs; determining IP routes; public versus private addressing; NAT and DHCP; managing IP traffic with access lists; implementing network security; establishing point-to-point connections; wireless technologies; and troubleshooting. The course will also describe how a network works and how to implement an IP addressing scheme and IP services to meet network requirements in a medium-size enterprise branch office network.


Participants learn how to configure, verify and troubleshoot a switch with VLANs and interswitch communications; and to identify security threats to a network and describe general methods to mitigate those threats.