Backing our industry connections
Simmonds & Bristow are proud Gold Sponsors of the 2022 Queensland Water Directorate’s (QWD) regional conferences and forums. We recognise the importance of these events in bringing the water and sewerage service industry together with key regulatory agencies to share knowledge and proactively address challenges the sector may be facing.
S&B Senior Water Industry Trainer, Kim Kerby and Sales & Customer Service Representative Jade Punchard attended the first regional conference for 2022 which was hosted by Livingstone Shire Council in Yeppoon from 24-25 March. At the conference there was much discussion about the retention of water and wastewater operations workers.
“It isn’t a new problem but it certainly appears to be a worsening problem,” Kim said.
“In saying that, there is also an opportunity for the industry to create pathways for young people from these communities to get interested, get trained-up and get guaranteed work making good clean water for their communities.”
“That is the great thing about these conferences, it gets everyone together to talk about the best way forward,” said Kim. “Connecting with clients and stakeholders is vital in understanding the range of experiences and finding the best approach to problem-solve challenges.”
S&B Sales & Customer Services representative Jade Punchard agreed that meeting clients and putting a face to the names of people they have worked with for some time was a valuable experience. Many opportunities were discovered to collaborate in future, particularly with regard to the part that Simmonds & Bristow Training could potentially play in meeting skills shortages for regional councils.
She observed that this is a great industry to get into, everyone was very welcoming, the Qldwater Directorate were great and the hosts, Livingstone Regional Council created a great space for everyone to meet face to face and connect.
Sadly both David Bristow and Maddie Barr were unable to attend the 23-24 May Port Douglas Regional Conference, hosted by Douglas Shire Council due to illness, but our senior Trainer Liz Millan recently attended the Qld Water Skills Forum, at the QWD Head Office in Eagle Farm. We were proud to be a sponsor and to reassure the industry that we are continuing to provide our full suite of training products.
There were some interesting discussions around the ongoing challenges of attracting suitably experienced operators and how best to attract and retain them. Of particular value was a panel discussion which included one of our learners, a young lady who spoke about her experience entering the industry. We also did a very engaging break-out session. In small groups we attempted to come up with a targeted social media campaign and slogan to attract a particular demographic (each group had a different target to work with).
Liz said she particularly enjoyed the presentation by Allan who recently retired from the city of Gold Coast, about how he was supported to transition to retirement, with efficient documentation and handover of his wealth of organisational knowledge and experience.
We are all looking forward to the next Regional Conference on the agenda on 13-14 July. See you in Gympie! Visit this link to register your interest in attending!
[/av_textblock]
