“How can we maintain safety in a skills shortage with a housing and infrastructure boom?”

Paynter Dixon Site Manager, Jason Mowll, recently joined an industry panel discussion on this complex topic.

Hosted by SafeWork NSW, the Ballina Building and Construction Symposium explored the issues posed by an expected shortage of 130,000 construction workers across Australia.

NSW Government has set a target of building 75,000 houses per year for the next five years, as well as meeting infrastructure and renewables commitments of $112.7 billion and $50 billion respectively over 4 years.

With up to 40,000 workers required to meet demand in NSW alone, the panel considered how a potential influx of inexperienced and vulnerable workers could impact safety outcomes.

Risk-mitigating solutions to the skills shortage were workshopped, including vocational education, skilled migration, industry innovation and increasing female participation.

“There is definitely scope for closing the gap between public school curriculum and entry-level skills to the industry,” says Jason.

He points to the trade school model where students can undertake pre-apprenticeship courses and even commence school-based apprenticeships.

Jason’s leadership in safety came to the attention of SafeWork NSW through his site management of CODA – a 13-storey mixed-use development comprising 95 residential apartments and ground floor retail in the Coffs Harbour CBD.

Site inspections by the workplace health and safety regulator drew praise.

“The inspector noted how well the CODA site was run, singling out the morale of workers.”

Day to day, Jason and his team are managing over 100 workers on site. Earlier in the year, Paynter Dixon achieved re-accreditation with the Federal Safety Commissioner following a comprehensive audit of CODA.

“Our regional project delivery is on an equal footing with our metropolitan work,” says HSEQ Manager, Sam Reid.

“These teams are leading by example in their implementation of systems and processes.”