Industry praise for workshop upskilling cotton picker operators

It's a startling fact, which motivated former Darling Downs' cotton grower, Troy Smith of Real Skills Ag Training to develop a modern safety workshop, focusing on preventing these accidents from happening.

The Real Skills Ag Training is task specific in that will enable Queensland staff from cotton growing businesses to be upskilled on operating cotton pickers, which are technologically advanced pieces of machinery, worth in excess of $1.5 million each.

The workshops will see a heavy focus on safety, problem solving and general operation of all models of John Deere round module building cotton pickers.

Mr Smith said he really wanted to move the needle on the horrific safety statistics in agriculture.

"The safety message Im delivering in the cotton picker training is being really well received and everyone is learning something new," he said.

"During last years training run of 26 deliveries between Emerald and Hay, plenty of people had stories of hitting powerlines, being electrocuted or witnessing electrocution deaths as a result of powerline strike.

"Its very real and most of us have never been taught truly how to react."

St George district cotton grower Craig Saunders recently hosted one of the workshops on his property.

Mr Saunders emphasised the training was a "must" for anyone operating or managing a cotton picker.

"Troy has developed a system, where you can talk safety and incorporate it in the practicalities of operating the cotton picker and that's why a lot of growers, like myself, like it," he said.

"I believe industry is looking for some practicalities that actually saved people and also improve the longevity of our machinery."

Cotton Australia's workforce policy officer, Paul Sloman, said the $168,000 (ex-GST) funding from the state government's micro-credential skills program, is enabling the upskilling of Queenslanders at 10 workshops to address workplace skills shortages for cotton growers.

"We are very appreciative of the Queensland government to fund this series of cotton picker essentials workshops," Mr Sloman said.

"The safety of our workforce is paramount to the cotton industry, and part of this is ensuring the operators of the cotton pickers are trained effectively by one of our industries experts."

Real Skills Ag Training began delivering 10 workshops across Queensland's cotton producing regions, commencing on February 12 and continuing until the March 13.

In order of delivery, the regions remaining are: