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CETA ACCREDITS COURSES FOR CAT MACHINE OPERATORS - [August 2006]
 Barloworld Equipment has become the first earthmoving equipment company to gain accreditation from the Construction Education and Training Authority (CETA) for its operator training, allowing its learners to achieve a nationally recognised qualification.
The Operator Academy for Cat earthmoving equipment operators was launched by Barloworld Equipment in January 2004, a year before the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA) registered a national qualification for earthmoving equipment operators.
Barloworld Equipment’s role is to add value to the Caterpillar and allied equipment it supplies to customers. The Operator Academy was established with the aim of including operator skills in that value offering, with particular emphasis on supplying skilled operators as part of the service of the Cat Rental Store. However the Academy also offers training to employees of its Cat customers and to individuals looking for a career path.
The Operator Academy, based at Barloworld Equipment’s Isando facility, serves all the countries in which the company is represented - South Africa, Lesotho, Swaziland, Namibia, Botswana, Mozambique, Malawi, Zambia and Angola.
Improve operator status
There are nowhere near enough earthmoving equipment operators to meet the strong demand associated with growth in both the mining and construction industries, not to mention huge anticipated infrastructural growth, points out Paul Sethusa, Operator Academy supervisor and chief training officer. “Add to this the increased staff turnovers resulting from accidents and illness.” Sethusa says the only way to increase operator numbers is to improve the status of the operator as a skilled individual and thus increase interest among career seekers. The accreditation of Barloworld Equipment’s operator training courses is a major step forward in this regard.
The basic and advanced plant operation operator’s courses offered by the Academy are now fully accredited, enabling learners students to achieve NQF levels 2 and 3 for the basic and advanced courses respectively.
Sethusa points out that Barloworld Equipment’s Operator Academy has complied with rigorous requirements to achieve this unique status in the earthmoving equipment industry. The Academy naturally trains its learners on Caterpillar equipment, giving Cat operators the ability to achieve national qualifications not available to operators of other earthmoving equipment brands.
Barloworld Equipment also offers courses for the evaluation of operator trainers and to familiarise operator trainers with the latest operating tips and techniques. Accreditation is still pending for these courses, but the process is at an advanced stage.
Safe operation
The vital role of the operator in the productivity of any earthmoving operation is often overlooked, says Barloworld Equipment Operator Academy manager Adrian Elwen. “The operator’s level of skill impacts on safety, accuracy and speed of operation and machine health. The impact of human error on the operation of an earthmoving machine can be disastrous, resulting in job repetition, poor fleet availability, expensive machine repairs, and even injury or death.
“Safe operation is the operator’s responsibility and through the Operator Academy we aim to educate both employers and employees on how to take this seriously.”
He adds that every operator employed by Barloworld Equipment’s Cat Rental Store will soon be accredited, giving the company’s rental business a major competitive advantage in the market.
SIDEBAR
LEARNERS LOOK FOR A CHALLENGE
Chief training officer Paul Sethusa says 40 to 45 operators are trained by the Barloworld Equipment Operator Academy each month. About half of these are generally novice operators “off the street” and the others either from the Cat Rental Store or sent by Cat machine owners wanting to improve the skills of their operators.
Two recently certified operators, Mildred Mkhonto and Johannes Nhlapo, both from Limpopo Province, travelled to Johannesburg in January this year to attend the basic plant operation course. Both were successful in the three week programme, comprising theoretical and practical instruction which included not only equipment operation but also basic mechanics, care of the machine and safety.
Mildred Mkhonto (21) is a qualified nurse who was forced to look elsewhere for a living by a lack of job opportunities. She took her cue from her father, who is an operator training instructor in Mokopane. Mkhonto is not at all intimidated by either the size of the machines or the fact that this has traditionally been a “man’s job”.
“I would like to operate articulated trucks, motor graders and front end loaders as I think these machines in particular will challenge me,” she says. “I’m confident that I can do it as well as the guys.”
Johannes Nhlapo (36) comes from a clerical background and was persuaded by his brother, a motor grader operator, to make the change. Nhlapo prefers Cat earthmoving machines to other brands and attended the course to look for new challenges and “away from a desk” job prospects.
Both Mkhonto and Nhlapo believe the nationally recognised certification they will now receive will make a big difference to their job prospects and to their future career growth.
Field school
Practical training and evaluation are conducted either at the Barloworld Arena, an extensive area at Isando suitable for hands-on machine training, or at the customer’s site. Field school courses on customer sites cater for between 10 and 14 delegates for theoretical training and a maximum of four delegates per day for practical training on the customer’s own machines. Members of the Academy’s training staff often spend up to a month on one site, particularly if it is remote.
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