Adopting an integrated service-model approach to overcome the skills shortage

Abstract

The Australian Government reports 80 planned or approved projects in the Australian resources sector will see demand for skilled labour increase by 70% by 2020. That is an estimated 70,000 new construction jobs and 16,000 ongoing positions in the sector. Several well-documented, proposed strategies address this skills shortage. One strategy that warrants closer attention is the Integrated Services Contract Model. This model allows a coordinated approach to resource planning and management across multiple sites and projects; it is being successfully used across the oil and gas, mining, and manufacturing industries. This approach is delivering improved safety, quality, and scheduling while reducing total costs as well as facilitating skilled-labour supply. Companies such as Santos are championing this model to level the resource profile and optimise its operations and assets across the Cooper and Eromanga Basins during five years. The steel manufacturing and mining industries are also using this approach, and the lessons are transferable. It has also been used by Woodside successfully for the past 15 years. An integrated services model relies on strategies such as asset management to better manage maintenance and shutdown requirements during an asset’s life-cycle, and a program-of-works approach across multiple sites and projects to identify essential versus non-essential work to reduce stress on the same labour pool. Remote and regional locations are also driving innovative solutions such as applying technology for remote site monitoring to reduce on-site manning requirements.