Staff training and development has often been a bugbear for mining operators in Papua New Guinea (PNG).
With a notoriously transient workforce, it can be difficult to get a clear return on any training investment above getting staff to the minimum required levels.
Rescue Group Services, the training arm of procurement agency Remote Global, takes a different approach. Far from accepting lower standards as given, it is committed to its goal of elevating the skill level of PNG’s workforce.
What’s more, Rescue Group said local miners are now earning a significant retention premium whenever they invest in higher grade training.
“Companies are finding that when they go above the basic standards, they get more workers staying for longer,” Rescue Group CEO Nick van Pooss told PNG Mining.
“The savings on recruitment costs help pay for the training, which also delivers a more skilled, more productive, and ultimately lower risk workforce.”
The key to Rescue Group’s training quality is its status as a Registered Training Organisation (RTO) in Australia. This certification is hard to come by but vital for its work in PNG.
“Being an RTO means we can elevate staff to higher Australian standards on a wide range of programs, from fire aviation safety to working with breathing apparatuses, through to site management and logistics,” van Pooss said. “Our clients’ management are particularly keen to be involved, as are their staff on the ground.”
Rescue Group’s recent acquisition of an RTO has seen an explosion in demand for its courses in both PNG and Australia.
“We can now deliver the Australian-based training with full certification,” van Pooss said. “That comes as the Mineral Resources Authority of PNG is pushing for greater skills development and improved minimum standards across the mining sector.”
Training for every role
Rescue Group Services offers more than 65 training courses across six categories of workplace safety, including training for: confined spaces, fire and emergency response, first aid, height safety, driving, and work health and safety.
“All our courses are highly relevant to the PNG mining sector and deliver across multiple levels,” van Pooss said.
Confined spaces training includes certificates in critical rescue techniques and using breathing apparatuses, while the fire and emergency response groups involve courses in firefighting, rescue operations, and incident response.
First aid subjects include remote area first aid, administering pain relief and train-the-trainer courses. The height safety training category explores vital safety protocols for working at heights.
And finally, the work health and safety portfolio covers issues such as infection preventions, manual handling, investigating workplace incidents and Certificates 3 and 4 in workplace health and safety.
Van Pooss said PNG miners have shown strong interest in the first aid and emergency response programs, noting that these skills are vital to have in place on remote work sites.
Having staff trained to a higher-than-required standard means greater confidence in the risk management processes across that site.
The training-retention circle
Maintaining a higher education standard – particularly when it is the widely-recognised Australian standard – also has a net positive impact on staff retention and recruitment costs.
Van Pooss said the digital infrastructure that comes with offering RTO-certified courses is ideal for PNG workers.
“Each one of our certificates is available on the platform,” he said. “That becomes a transferrable asset for the worker who can then carry it with them to a new employer, whether that is in Papua New Guinea, Australia, or anywhere in the world.”
The irony is not lost on van Pooss or his team.
By training to Australian standards and holding transferrable certifications, an employee immediately becomes more attractive to other miners searching for qualified staff.
But van Pooss said that doesn’t mean they’ll necessarily make the switch to a new job. In fact, he said staff often appreciate the faith placed in them and repay that with greater loyalty to the employer funding that training.
“The certifications provide some flexibility, but they also work to give staff greater confidence and understanding of their own roles,” van Pooss said. “That extends to longevity in the job and greater trust in the training employer.
“It makes training and certification a win–win deal for miners and their staff.”
This feature appeared in the August–September 2025 issue of PNG Mining.
