Skills and qualifications for sustainability

Sustainability skills

Sustainability is recognised as a key driver for new directions within manufacturing enterprises and across the entire value stream.

Manufacturing Skills Australia has identified key areas of skills that can support the viability of an organisation while at the same time benefiting the environment in which the organisation operates. These include skill areas such as:

Planning and implementing strategies to reduce water and energy use, waste and emissions
Developing opportunities for recycling, reuse and remanufacturing
Making product improvements and designing ‘clever’ products
Improving day to day operational resource efficiency
Measuring and reporting environmental/sustainability performance
Assessing environmental risks and developing responses
Managing the supply chain.

There are a number of options that support skills development in sustainability including three sets of options using the MSA units and qualifications:

Sustainability qualifications in the MSS Sustainability Training Package
Skill clusters using selected of units of competency from MSS and other Training Packages
MSA technical and non technical qualifications – which include sustainability units of competency.

Using the units of competency and qualifications

Any business can use the national units of competency to guide their skills programs or to help them to plan or to develop their policies and procedures.

However, to achieve a nationally recognised qualification or Statement of Attainment the units of competency must be assessed by a Registered Training Organisation (RTO) with the relevant scope of registration.

The database of all units of competency, qualifications and list of Registered Training Organisations can be found at the training.gov.au website.

Qualifications for sustainability

To address these emerging skill needs MSA has developed a series of leading edge qualifications in the MSS Sustainability Training Package. The sustainability qualifications focus on helping businesses become more sustainable through improved productivity and efficiency and by meeting their environmental responsibilities.

The MSS Sustainability qualifications for Sustainable Operations target the strategic management of sustainability in a business and the practical skills required for effective implementation through the organisation.

Skills for environmental testing and monitoring, site and environmental management are covered in the Environmental Monitoring and Technology qualifications.

There are qualifications at Certificate IV, Diploma and Vocational Graduate Certificate levels for both Sustainable Operations and Environmental Monitoring and Technology.

Skill clusters

You may find that job roles or skill needs do not align to a full qualification. Depending on the skill needs you might select a group of suitable units of competency from MSS and use these as a skill cluster. Or you might want to combine units from MSS with units from other Training Packages.

These skill clusters are not formal ‘Skill Sets’ which are groups of units defined within a national Training Package. Skill clusters can be designed with (or by) an RTO to meet an identified industry need.

The RTO must issue a Statement of Attainment for any units of competency in a skill cluster that are recognised through a formal assessment.

MSA technical and non technical qualifications

MSA qualifications cover technical and non technical roles across the breadth of sectors within manufacturing.

An environmental sustainability unit of competency is packaged into the core of each of the MSA qualifications. These units cover the general environmental sustainability skill needs of all workers.

Depending on the level of the qualification and the sector needs the unit will be one of:

MSMENV272 Participate in environmentally sustainable work practices
MSMENV472 Implement and monitor environmentally sustainable work practices
MSMENV672 Develop workplace policy and procedures for environmental sustainability.

You can also use the packaging options in MSA qualifications to provide sustainability skills. Environmental sustainability units from the MSMENV series are available as electives in most of the MSA qualifications. You can also use the imported units allowance to bring in units from MSS, other Training Packages or accredited courses.

For more information on the MSA qualifications see the MSA website.