35-metre-tall training facility at CIT Bruce

Anyone who has been past the Canberra Institute of Technology (CIT) campus at Bruce recently might have noticed the large 35-metre-tall tower crane now standing at the site. This is not for construction but is in fact the latest addition to CIT's safety and renewables training facility that will help improve the employment opportunities of CIT students in a range of industries.

The tower crane training provides students with a safe, highly controlled simulated workplace environment, while allowing students to experience the physical challenges of working and operating equipment safely at height.

Ken Wilson, a CIT Teacher and Global Wind Organisation (GWO) Program Co-ordinator, said "The new tower crane is a welcome addition to our existing training facilities for safety and high-risk training, as well as training done as part of the GWO program. The facility mirrors the needs of local industry now as there is high demand for these skills in areas like construction as well as renewables."

There are a lot of multi storey buildings under construction across the ACT at the moment so there is a need for people who are trained to work at heights. "A view of the local skyline clearly shows the design and height of buildings being constructed in the ACT.  In the renewables sector, wind turbines generally exceed 80 meters. Based on these evolving engineering designs, safe working at heights training is critical," Ken said.

"We do a lot of training to demonstrate how to think and deal safely with emergency situations. At ground level, it may be a lot simpler to escape dangerous emergencies, less so at height."

"The addition of the new tower to our simulated training environment improves the skills of our students so they can better manage risk, assess the situation, react calmly to an emergency, and then safely remove themselves from danger and rescue others in the event of a workplace emergency," Ken said.

CIT has been running its GWO training since 2017. "What really sets CIT apart from other training providers is the sheer scale and size of the program at CIT and our world class people, equipment and training facilities. This new tower crane adds another safety dimension to CIT's High Risk & renewables program as a whole."

"Facilities like this cement both CIT and the ACT more generally as a training and renewables hub," Ken said.