Fair Work Commission

Required training for a Fair Work entry permit

When determining whether to issue a Fair Work entry permit, the Delegate of the Fair Work Commission must consider whether the proposed permit holder has received appropriate training about the rights and responsibilities of a permit holder.

A proposed permit holder can demonstrate that they have received appropriate training by providing evidence of successful completion of training that has been approved by the Commission.

Several unions have had right of entry training packages approved by the Commission, as has the ACTU and Unions NSW (see the ACTU website  and Unions NSW website for details of their training package).

Required training for a WHS entry permit

When determining whether to issue a WHS entry permit, the Delegate of the Fair Work Commission must consider whether the proposed permit holder has received the prescribed training regarding entry for the purposes of WHS.

The prescribed training is training that has been approved by Comcare. Comcare publishes the list of approved training on its Approved WHS-EPH training courses website.

Currency of training

Contemporaneous training is critical to ensure that permit holders understand their rights and responsibilities.

As a general rule, every application for a Fair Work permit received at the Commission in 2016 is required to be accompanied by evidence of approved training received within 3 months of the application being made in order for that training to meet the statutory requirement of appropriate training.

The practical effect of this for many permit holders is that they will be required, at the minimum, to complete refresher training every 3 years.

Evidence of Fair Work right of entry training

When applying for a Fair Work entry permit the declarations must specify what training was undertaken by the proposed permit holder. Copies of the evidence of training, such as a certificate of completion, must be provided.

If you have completed the ACTU training, a copy of the certificate of completion is adequate evidence of training.

Some organisations conduct their own training and evidence of training may be in the form of:

• a certificate
• an attendance sheet
• an affidavit
• a declaration, or
• a letter.

Evidence of WHS right of entry training

A proposed permit holder can demonstrate that they have completed approved WHS entry permit training by submitting a copy of their completion certificate for an approved training course.