From RAAF to Renewable Energy Instructor

Safety is a responsibility that CIT High Risk Program Instructor Ken Wilson takes seriously. He delivers training to the next generation of Wind Energy industry workers, ensuring CIT students thoroughly adhere to global safety standards and technical practices.

CIT is one of only four providers in the southern hemisphere delivering courses accredited by the Global Wind Organisation (GWO). Through Ken's diligent instruction, CIT students undertake GWO Certified Technical and Safety training which provides them with a practical understanding of the risks they will face working on wind turbines and the knowledge to ensure an injury-free work environment.

"For me, the most challenging aspect of the GWO course is to make sure my students leave CIT with their thinking caps on so they can safely, calmly and quickly react to an emergency if it ever occurs," Ken said.

Ken's instructional approach combines 12 years of comprehensive trade training in the Royal Australian Air Force with professional qualifications in Occupational Health and Safety and Risk Psychology and Learning.

Prior to CIT offering GWO qualifications, Ken delivered high-risk training including working safely at heights on construction and maintenance sites, erecting scaffolding and working in confined spaces. CIT had the teachers and infrastructure to integrate high-risk subjects with GWO rescue training and CIT's Renewable Energy Skills Centre of Excellence - GWO Program opened in 2017.

Ken considers the relationship with industry leaders invaluable to ensure CIT's training meets employers' expectations. "At the end of the course, when people spontaneously start talking and discussing key safety concepts as they relate to their workplace, for me as a teacher, that's really rewarding," Ken said.

"I wish I was 18 again!" said Ken who firmly believes that whether it is "trade, engineering, IT, cyber, logistics, people or safety and environment, local, interstate, national or global - renewables is the place to be."

Learn more about CIT's Renewable Energy Skills Centre of Excellence.

Are you considering a career in renewables? Read how a graduate student is Helping the planet: a Wind Turbine Technician's story.