General conditions for registered training organisations delivering training and assessment
General conditions for registered training organisations delivering training and assessment
Effective 1 October 2022
Notes
These General Conditions are incorporated into the agreement between the Regulator and the RTO, including the Particulars and DRAP in, addition to the:
- Standard Terms
- Specific Conditions that apply per WHS Authorisation Regime
- Any other documents agreed by the parties
1. Definitions and interpretation
1.1 Definitions
In these General Conditions the terms below have the following meaning:
Term | Meaning |
---|---|
Connected delivery |
Services delivery by live video streaming/conferencing, using platforms such as Skype, Microsoft Teams or Zoom and that provides for real-time:
|
DRAP | The RTO plan for the delivery of the Services, set out in Schedule 2 Detailed RTO Activities Plan of the Agreement of Competency. |
Face-to-face | Services delivery where the trainer and learner are physically located together, with the training delivered live and in real-time, allowing for direct teacher/learner interaction and active participation. |
The guide for RTOs | The Guide for RTOs Delivering Training and Assessment Services in NSW under the Work Health and Safety Regulation 2017 (NSW) to assist RTOs understand and meet their obligations under the Agreement entered into with the Regulator to deliver the Services in NSW. |
Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) | The Independent Commission Against Corruption Act 1988 established the ICAC as an independent agency to protect the public interest, prevent breaches of public trust and guide the conduct of public officials in the NSW public sector. |
Non-compliance | When an RTO is found to be in breach of the Agreement, |
Online delivery |
Service delivery through a portal or web-based learning management system (LMS) that has no substantive real-time: *interaction between the trainer(s) and learner(s); nor *learner assessment through direct observation and verbal assessment. |
Public Service Commission (PSC) | A NSW Government agency that supports the Public Service Commissioner to carrying out their functions under the Government Sector Employment Act (GSE) 2013. |
Specific conditions | The conditions for RTOs delivering services in NSW for a specified WHS authorisation regime. |
TACS | Training Accreditation and Compliance Services is a business unit within SafeWork NSW that manages authorisations and third party providers. |
TAS | Training and assessment strategy. |
UOC | Unit of Competency. |
2. Introduction
These General Conditions for RTOs delivering training and assessment in NSW under the Work Health and Safety Regulation 2017 (NSW) form part of the Conditions for RTOs.
These General Conditions should be read in conjunction with:
- the Agreement, including the Standard Terms;
- any Specific Conditions that apply to the RTOs Approved Training Courses (ATCs); and
- the Guidance for RTOs.
3. Professional and ethical behaviour
- The RTO must demonstrate professional and ethical behaviour.
All RTO Personnel, including representatives, trainers and assessors, have previously been found to be public officials by the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC).
All public officials should be aware of and meet the NSW Government’s ethical behaviour requirements as described in the NSW Public Service Commission’s publication ‘Behaving Ethically’, which is available at:
www.psc.nsw.gov.au/culture-and-inclusion/workplace-culture/behaving-ethically
Further guidance is provided in the Code of Conduct in the Guide for RTOs Delivering Training and Assessment Services in NSW under the Work Health and Safety Regulation 2017 (NSW) (the Guide).
4. Principal conditions of approval
- The RTO must maintain their scope of registration with ASQA for the delivery of an Approved Training Course.
- The RTO must comply with the National Vocational Education and Training Regulator Act 2011 (the NVR Act) and all related requirements and directives.
- The RTO must comply with all components of the Vocational Education and Training (VET) Quality Framework including the:
- Standards for Registered Training Organisations 2015 (Standards for RTOs)
- Australian Qualifications Framework
- Fit and Proper Person Requirements
- Financial Viability Risk Assessment Requirements 2011 (FVRA Requirements)
- Data Provision Requirements 2012
- Additional requirements for RTOs offering VET courses with additional licensing requirements
4.1 Candidates
4.1.1 Enrolment and evidence of identity (EOI)
- The RTO must confirm that a person seeking to enrol in an Approved Training Course meets any age requirement applicable to the relevant WHS authorisation regime in the Specific Conditions.
- The RTO must comply with the EOI requirements, complete an EOI check for each Candidate at enrolment and confirm that the Candidate provides the necessary EOI documentation as set out at Appendix 1.
- The RTO must enter the EOI information in the OLE as required and/or complete and retain the EOI Form. The EOI form must be provided to the Regulator, if requested, during an audit or in response to a complaint or compliance related issue.
4.1.2 Language, literacy and numeracy (LLN)
- The RTO must determine if a Candidate meets the minimum course LLN levels and, if necessary, provide or refer the Candidate to appropriate LLN support services.
- A learners’ LLN competency must be assessed and any special needs identified so that any LLN or special needs can be addressed and provided for all Candidates prior to the commencement of, and during, the training.
4.2 Trainers
- The RTO must only nominate trainers for Regulator approval who meet the minimum relevant Approved Training Course requirements and any other specified minimum requirements.
- The RTO must only use Trainers nominated by the RTO and approved by the Regulator.
- The RTO must not use Trainers nominated by any other RTO unless that RTO is a third party approved by the Regulator to deliver services on behalf of the RTO.
4.3 Training and assessment
- The RTO must deliver all Unit of Competency (UoC) related training and assessment per the RTO Training and Assessment Strategy (TAS), as submitted to ASQA, and the DRAP.
4.3.1 Training
- The RTO must use a mode of training delivery that meets the requirements of ASQA, the UoC and the Agreement. Face-to-face delivery is the preferred training delivery mode. Other training delivery modes, including Connected delivery, can be used if provided for in the relevant Specific Conditions.
The RTO must provide adequate resources for Candidates to effectively participate in the learning activities. For Connected delivery and prior to course commencement, the participants must: - have a suitable learning environment, including any hardware and software necessary to complete the course
- be provided with suitable technical support so that any technical issues can be identified, logged and resolved in a timely fashion
- be provided with any required supporting resources in a suitable form, and
- be provided with or be advised how to obtain the any equipment required to complete the course.
4.3.2 Assessment
- All UoC assessments must be delivered to meet the requirements of ASQA, the UoC and the Agreement.
- *Deleted
- Where a separately notified assessment is required, the RTO must notify and complete, or coordinate the conduct of the assessment as required.
4.3.3 After delivering training/assessment
- The RTO must complete all required training/assessment OLE and administrative requirements.
- The RTO must keep and retain a record of training/assessment for all Candidates.
4.3.4 Certification
- The RTO must issue all relevant certification to any successful or unsuccessful Candidate as required.
4.4 Administration
4.4.1 Third Parties
- Where a third party is approved by the Regulator to deliver the Services or part of the Services on behalf of the RTO, the RTO must implement suitable third party management arrangements so that the third party complies with the Agreement as if it were the RTO, including, but not limited to:
- service delivery administration and record keeping
- regular third party reporting to the RTO, and
- regular third party service delivery auditing and verification by the RTO.
4.4.2 Forms
- The RTO must use any Regulator forms that are relevant to each Approved Training Course for administration purposes.
4.4.3 Record Keeping
- The RTO must keep and maintain training records as required by ASQA and the Agreement and these must be made available to the Regulator on request.
- The RTO must keep and maintain training records for a minimum of 5 years, including:
- electronic copies of training course and/or assessment notifications via the OLE
- electronic copies of training and/or assessment variations via the OLE
- records of training dates, courses and documentary evidence of the dates that each Candidate was in attendance at notified training (e.g. attendance sheets).
- Candidate details and the number of Candidates who completed the training and/or assessment.
- records of Candidate pre-requisite evidence sighted prior to training commencing, including EOI (if applicable).
- approvals from the Regulator for all exemptions to these conditions.
- Candidate assessments.
- Candidate certification, including Statements of Training, Statements of Completion, Statements of Attainment
- Candidate evaluation forms.
- Change of mailing address forms.
- Any other relevant correspondence with the Regulator.
- Any other forms relevant to the delivery of the course.
- All other records required under ‘The Standards for Registered Training Organisations’ available at www.asqa.gov.au/standards
- The RTO’s training records, including notification forms, record of training forms, and applicant details, must be kept in a secure location to prevent loss or damage through theft, fire or flooding or to prevent access that would enable alteration or use by other persons.
- In the event RTO training records are lost, stolen, destroyed or damaged, the RTO must advise the Regulator in writing as soon as possible with details on what happened and what specific records were affected.
4.4.4 Reporting
- The RTO must provide the Regulator a range of regular reports in an electronic format that is suitable to the Regulator. These formats may include:
- Microsoft products, such as Word, Excel, and PowerPoint
- Adobe products, such as Acrobat, and
- HTML based products.
4.5 Audit, investigation and compliance
- Where an RTO uses Connected delivery, the RTO must provide for and allow the Regulator to access the delivery system and any individual training course or session for verification purposes. The RTO must provide all necessary system connectivity and access to the Regulator to allow this to occur.
- The Regulator will undertake RTO audit/verification activities and investigate any allegation made or complaint received against the RTO, including for:
- inappropriate, discriminatory or corrupt behaviour; and
- inappropriate or discriminatory comment or publication.
- The Regulator may share information regarding the RTO, its Trainers and any other approved third parties with ASQA, State Training Authorities (STA) and other Australian jurisdiction work/occupational health and safety regulators.
4.6 Consequences of non-compliance
- If the RTO does not comply with the Agreement, including the conditions, compliance action will be taken. The action taken will be determined by the type, frequency and severity of the RTO default.
- New RTO applications to deliver services in NSW may be refused if the RTO or any related party has had any relevant services agreement, approval or authorisation suspended, terminated or cancelled in any Australian jurisdiction within the previous five years.
4.6.1 Costs relating to error default, suspension, termination or cancellation
- The RTO will bear the cost of any additional authorisation action required by the Regulator as a result of RTO OLE data entry error, including the provision of additional Authorisation Cards to a Candidate.
- The RTO will bear the cost of any additional services required by the Regulator, which may include any Candidate re-training and/or reassessment to be provided by another RTO.
5. Advertising and copyright
5.1 Advertising
- RTO advertising, promotion and publicity must not be misleading or ambiguous.
- Any advertising, promotion, publicity or other RTO material claiming that the RTO has Regulator approval or authorisation must refer to the RTO’s name as entered into the Agreement with the Regulator.
- The RTO must not claim or advertise that they are Regulator approved or authorised:
- when they are not; or
- b. while approval is pending; or
- c. prior to entering an Agreement.
- Any advertising, promotion or publicity carried out by an approved RTO third party, including contracted Trainer’s, must not carry the claim to be approved or authorised by the Regulator. The third party may only refer to their affiliation with the Regulator approved or authorised RTO with whom they are affiliated.
- Interstate RTOs must obtain approval or authorisation from the Regulator before advertising services in NSW.
5.2 Copyright
- Use of any Regulator material is protected by the Copyright Act 1968 (Copyright Act). Unless otherwise approved by the Regulator in writing, Regulator material may only be downloaded, displayed, printed or reproduced, without amendment, for personal, in-house or non-commercial use.
- Other use of the Regulator material, including alteration, transmission or reproduction for commercial use is permitted only with written permission from the Regulator
- A copyright request application is available on the SafeWork NSW website.
5.3 NSW Government and regulator logos
- The NSW Government and Regulator logos are registered trademarks. These logos must only be reproduced by non-government organisations that have written approval from the Regulator.
- The RTO must not use Regulator or other NSW Government branding to promote individual service providers for competitive advantage.
5.4 Audit and self-audit
- Advertising and publicity material produced and used by RTOs and any approved third parties, including Trainers, may be subject to an audit against the advertising requirements and the Agreement. Non-compliance will be regarded as a default by the RTO under the Agreement.
- RTOs should undertake regular self-auditing, including to check that their own and any approved third party advertising and publicity material is fully compliant with ASQA and the Regulator’s requirements.
5.5 SafeWork NSW website
- Written consent is required from the Regulator for an RTO to include links in advertising and publicity material or on any web page associated with Services delivery, to the Regulator’s website.
Evidence of identity
A Candidate must be able to prove their identity before they are trained or assessed by providing a minimum of 100 points of EOI. This is to confirm that the person who is trained and assessed is the same person who, if deemed competent, is issued with the relevant authorisation document by the Regulator.
- The RTO must not allow any person that does not provide a minimum 100 points of EOI as outlined in the EOI table at Attachment 1 to commence training.
- Within the combination of EOI documents, the Candidate must be able to show their:
- photo;
- date of birth; and
- signature.
- All EOI documentation must:
- Be originals*
Photocopied or certified documents are not to be accepted. If the document was issued to the Candidate electronically, for example a utility bill, this can be accepted. - Be in the same name
Unless accompanied by a document issued by a Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages verifying the change of name. - Include the Candidate’s full name.
Initials are not to be accepted. - Be in English
Unless accompanied by an English translation issued by a National Accreditation Authority for Translations and Interpreters (NAATI) accredited translator.
- Be originals*
* In terms of original documents:
- For a Birth Certificate, Marriage Certificate, or Change of Name Certificate, ‘original’ means a certificate issued by a Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages.
- For bank statements, credit cards and savings account cards issued by an overseas institution, these can only be accepted if the:
- issuing institution has representation in Australia; and
- statement or card is in English.
- For documents issued to the Candidate electronically, for example a utility bill, the digital version can be accepted.
Points for Evidence of Identity (EOI) documents
EOI Table | ||
---|---|---|
Document type | Document | Points |
Primary documents Only use ONE document | Australian Birth Certificate/card issued by the Registrar of Births Deaths and Marriages | 70 |
Passport – Australian or international (current or expired within last two years, but not cancelled) | 70 | |
Australian citizenship certificate | 70 | |
Secondary documents 3. Documents provided MUST | Current Australian driver’s licence | 40 |
Current Australian learner driver’s licence/permit | 40 | |
Current Australian boat operator’s photo licence (Note: only the Personal Watercraft Licence (PWC) is issued in NSW with a photo and is acceptable. The NSW non-photo boat licence is not acceptable). | 40 | |
Current NSW firearms photo licence | 40 | |
Current Australian issued NCOC photo licence (post 2006) or high risk work licence | 40 | |
Current state/territory proof of age or photo card (e.g. a NSW RMS issued photo card) | 40 | |
Australian defence or Police photo ID card | 40 | |
Department of Veterans Affairs card | 25 | |
Current Centrelink card | 25 | |
Property (council) rates notice | 25 | |
Property lease agreement | 25 | |
Home insurance papers | 25 | |
Utility bills – e.g. water, electricity, gas | 25 | |
Telephone account | 25 | |
Current Medicare card | 25 | |
Current motor vehicle registration or insurance papers | 25 | |
Credit/savings cards/bank statements | 25 | |
Correctional facility | Corrective Services to accept two additional forms of EOI as listed below. This additional EOI ONLY applies to Correctional Centre inmates who are being assessed in a correctional facility under the High Risk Work Licence authorisation regime. | |
For inmates of a correctional centre an arrangement exists between the Regulator and the Department of Corrections
Correctional centre inmate MIN card photo card | 40 | |
Correctional centre inmate MIN card | 5 | |
Letter of verification from the department of corrective services | 25 |