Stage 1 of the project commenced in 2009, when the APIA Board made the decision to invest members’ funds due to a need to address a growing skills shortage in the industry.

Solving the skills shortage

Several years ago, the skills shortage was being seen in at least two ways.

The first is that a number of highly experienced and expert engineers can be expected to retire in the next five to ten years. These ‘baby boomer’ engineers do not have a set of replacements flowing through from Gen X, particularly when it comes to the very high levels of expertise these senior figures hold. It is therefore essential that the industry train engineers from the ranks of Gen Y and attract more Gen X from other industries and train them too.

Another way that the skills shortage can be observed is through the rapid growth in pipeline projects around Australia as CSG is developed, and as demand for gas is anticipated to increase for power generation as a response to the global warming issue.

Engineering houses around the country are not able to hire local engineers with the requisite expertise and are left with two alternatives: hire from overseas, or attract and train engineers from wherever they can be found. Largely, these will be the new graduates leaving universities.

Bureaucracy in engineering

A further impact on the industry in regard to engineering capability is the increasing requirements of some governments to require engineers to be registered. Queensland is the main case in point, according to Mr Harvey.

To make key engineering decisions in Queensland, an engineer is required to be a Registered Professional Engineer of Queensland (RPEQ). These requirements mean that to practice in Queensland, engineers must both be adequately trained, but must also have demonstrated their expertise to a recognised body if they are to be able to practice.

All of this points to the need to develop processes by which pipeline engineers can be effectively trained as quickly as possible. The APIA Board’s response recognised the small size of the industry (and therefore that its capacity to pay is limited) by taking initial steps that are low-cost and targeted toward strategic elements upon which it could build through successive stages of the project.

Adhering to AS2885

Stage 1 comprised developing the basis for competency-based training of pipeline engineers and developing a key resource document that would capture the breadth and depth of industry knowledge that is held by the baby boomer generation about pipeline engineering and, in particular, AS2885. The results from Stage 1 were the APIA Guide to AS2885 and the APIA Competency Standards.

The Guide to AS2885 brings together a number of key elements as follows:
• The background and history of AS2885 and its differences with international pipeline standards. This information is important because it helps users of the standard to understand the philosophy behind it and why it is different to international standards.
• An introduction to the main pipeline engineering processes of design, construction and operations (including maintenance). This information provides a new engineer with a good basic overview of the roles of a pipeline engineer.
• Explanations of parts of the standard that practicing engineers have had difficulty in applying (Stage 1 has only covered Part 1 of AS2885).
• Key lessons that have been learned by engineers and need to be passed on.
• A comprehensive set of references to textbooks, websites, software, journals and research materials that will assist both new and experienced engineers in expanding their knowledge base.
• The Issue Papers that were the basis for the most recent revisions of Part 1 of AS2885.

It is intended that the Guide be the sort of document that every pipeline engineer would have in their library as a reference.

Compiling Competency Standards

The Pipeline Engineer Competency Standards comprise a list of approximately 230 competencies that will be required across the community of pipeline engineers.

These competencies have been assembled into a coherent, robust and flexible structure of three dimensions:
• Level – core, elective and specialist
• Stream – design, construction, operations and general
• Competency areas – logical groupings of competencies.

Of the 230 competencies identified, 91 have been drafted in a standardised format that is simple, yet sufficient to allow a complete definition and description of competency. The Competency Standards document also provides useful commentary about the philosophy and application of the Standards.

The Guide to AS2885 is relatively straight forward to apply, acting as training material for new pipeline engineers and as a reference for experienced engineers.

The Competency Standards, however, have a multiplicity of applications as follows:
• Competency inventory and gap analysis – in-house and external
• Identifying competency priorities
• Overall training and development program
• Individual training and development plans
• Position descriptions
• Recognition of prior learning
• Career planning for individual engineers
• Recruitment.

Taking competency standards to the industry

As part of Stage 2, Mr Harvey has been talking to companies about these applications. A number of companies have begun to use the competency standards to meet their individual needs.

One pipeline constructor is using the competency standards to design career and training paths for its engineers and to specify position requirements for project organisation design.

A major pipeline owner/operator is also using pipeline engineer competency standards, along with other competencies, to describe the sort of requirements they see for engineer career structures. Others that are less advanced in their application are beginning to do gap analysis.

Building a common pipeline vocabulary

What is becoming clear is that there is a growing need for the common system and language that the Competency Standards provide, and that each company is able to take the flexibility of the Competency Standards’ structure to meet their particular needs.

It is important to note that the Stage 1 versions of the Guide to AS2885 and the Pipeline Engineer Competency Standards are both only partially complete. That is, they are at a stage where they can be useful, but have elements to be added and completed.

In the case of the Competency Standards, there are approximately 140 competencies that have yet to be drafted. The Guide has provided space for completing the sections on the construction and engineering processes, additional industry lessons, and issues with application of Parts 0, 2, 3 and 5 of AS2885.

Creating Stage 2

Having completed Stage 1 of the project, the APIA Board had confidence to proceed with a second stage of the project, which focuses on helping the industry begin to make use of the Guide and the Competency Standards.

There are a number of elements to Stage 2:
• Educating and engaging with industry about the Guide and the Competency Standards and helping companies and individual engineers to incorporate the Competency Standards into their business processes, but particularly training and development and career path planning.
• Working with industry and training providers to identify industry’s training needs and begin to develop new courses that respond to the priority competencies gaps that industry is experiencing.
• Working with Engineers Australia to have pipeline engineering recognised as a specific area of practice in respect of registration of engineers and achieving chartered status.
• Enhancing the web-based publishing of the Guide and the Competency Standards.
• Developing a governance framework for the continuing development of the Pipeline Engineering Project into an ongoing part of APIA’s service to members.
• Collaborating with the Energy Pipelines Co-operative Research Centre to assist it in connecting its education and knowledge transfer obligations with the training of engineers in existing knowledge.

An important feature of Stage 2 of the project is that of communication between the industry and the project’s manager, Chris Harvey.

Mr Harvey is especially looking to assist companies understand how the Competency Standards and the Guide can help them with their training and development needs, but is also seeking feedback about the Guide and the Competency Standards and how APIA should be developing them and improving them. He is interested to get any feedback about pipeline engineer training and also being a sounding board as members explore the opportunities that the Guide and Competency Standards create.

Mr Harvey says that “There is a discernible building of momentum for the project as awareness of it and its value increases, and the shape of the project will both evolve and become clearer as APIA’s members continue the process of implementation."