Work has already begun on three projects across the Forestry and Timber industry. This includes a project to address changes brought about by New Harvesting Technologies, one to update unique skills across Timber Merchandising, and another to streamline qualifications in Timber Truss and Frame Estimating and Design.
For details of timelines, scope and opportunities for involvement, see the links to the individual project pages below.
New Timber Harvesting Technologies Project
Sophisticated new technologies are improving productivity, environmental sustainability and safety in the forest industry. As a result many job roles require higher levels of technical and digital skills than before. It’s important these developments are reflected in nationally endorsed qualifications and skills standards to ensure industry can keep up with high demand for timber, a competitive market, and regulatory requirements.
Timber Merchandising Project
While the skills required for timber merchandising overlap with a range of retail occupations, expertise in timber is a necessity of the job. Specific knowledge of timber types and technical skills to measure and cut wood are needed to ensure customers receive the right services and products. The timber industry will be consulted throughout this project to ensure qualifications and skills standards cover appropriate skills for this specialised area of timber merchandising.
Timber Truss & Frame Estimating & Design Project
Most modern homes and a range of other buildings rely on timber trusses and frames as an essential element of the building structure. However, there is a shortage of timber systems designers in Australia to perform the work of estimating and designing this key part of many buildings. Industry will be consulted throughout this project to review current qualifications and units of competency, updating them to better match the job role and promote accessible pathways into work.
Get Involved
If you have experience in any of these areas, there are a number of steps you can take to get involved:
- Make sure your subscription preferences are up to date to receive newsletter updates on the project
- Express interest to become part of the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) via the corresponding project page
- Provide feedback on the draft qualifications, skill sets and units of competency that the SMEs help draft. There will be two rounds of feedback for each project.