The course has evolved from the original, nationally recognised, competency-based course in advanced safety awareness.

The new mining industry ASA course is different from the original in that it is available online and has been designed and developed to fit into the mining industry’s safety induction programs.

The course is designed to develop mine workers’ attitudes towards safety, as well as their confidence and self-esteem through building self-awareness.

It also provides them with tips about communication skills which will enable them to deal with issues such as conflict and bullying.

The modules of the online safety training course consist of workplace culture concepts designed to develop workplace values; supervision attitudes; safety thinking; perception and judgement; and advanced safety awareness.

Mine workers can complete the course at their own pace, usually in less than two hours.

A log in and log out feature is available 24/7 providing flexibility and convenience for both the apprentice and the supervisor.

According to PaQS, feedback from participants has been incredibly positive, with many finding the psychological approach to safety more comprehensive and the structure of the online course to be user-friendly and efficient.

Senior psychologist and PaQS founder Carl Reams said the PaQS ethos was new for personal safety management in Australia, as it targeted human error by developing and enhancing individual safety thinking and responsibility.

Most experts agree that more than 90% of workplace incidents, injuries and fatalities have some human error element.

“Traditionally, safety training has focused on visible workplace hazard awareness and training job skills but what we deal with, personal or psychological safety awareness evolves safety to a new level by focussing on the individual’s abilities and motivations – the safety thinking that drives behaviour,” Reams said.

“Excellent work had been done in Australia over recent decades to improve safety systems and procedures and identify management responsibilities but there hasn’t been much other than skills or systems-based training for the managers and employees.

“What PaQS is doing is developing rational judgement, perception and personal motivation to follow safety systems and that’s what makes our style of safety training so different.”