www.thebrownbook.com.au

plant and machinery operators need to be competent to ensure safety and efficiency on work sites. most high risk machinery courses only run for 4 to 5 days (36 to 40 hours) whereas machinery manufacturers would recommend between 1,000 to 4,000 hours to be deemed competent to operate cranes and 2 to 6 months (320 to 1,040 hours) to operate a concrete pump. trainees are being released from courses with a national licence but may or may not be competent. the pressure is on them and site managers to provide evidence of competency to protect the safety of workers, optimise efficiency and reduce the legal risk to companies. to close the gap, between trained and competent, requires detailed evidence of experience, training and verification of competency. we support the growing call for log books detailing exactly which machines the operator has used and what duties they have performed over a specified time frame. we would like to see it become a national standard that log books be used on all