Working on a training permit in NSW
Before the licence, the document that lets a person do the work in New South Wales is a training permit, and the EPA ties it to an approved course of study.
Each state writes supervision in words, not in metres.
Source: Victorian Department of Health, operator guidelines; trainee licences; NSW EPA, training permits; SA Health, industry licensing; SA Health, engaging a licensed business; SA.GOV.AU, pest control licence; WA Health (Pesticides) Regulations 2011; Queensland Health, sensitive places; NRE Tasmania, pest management licences; Victorian licence applications.
a licensed technician
BESIDE
WITHIN REACH
VICindirect sight or hearing … two-way radio
WAregular and frequent supervision
NSWa more indirect degree of supervision
QLDphone, two-way radio (sensitive places) for a licensed technician, not a trainee
VIC12 months, three times at most
NSWup to 84 days before enrolling
SAsome limited technicians: within sight and/or sound, telephone included
the full licence
trainee
fully qualified
Victorian Department of Health
Each state writes supervision in words, not in metres.
Source: Victorian Department of Health, operator guidelines; trainee licences; NSW EPA, training permits; SA Health, industry licensing; SA Health, engaging a licensed business; SA.GOV.AU, pest control licence; WA Health (Pesticides) Regulations 2011; Queensland Health, sensitive places; NRE Tasmania, pest management licences; Victorian licence applications.
The permit
The EPA’s rule is a tie of two parts. A person without the licence may do the work only while holding a training permit and while taking an approved course of training for it.
In New South Wales, the fee for a training permit applied for on or after 1 July 2022 is $170.00.
A working trainee therefore holds three separate things at once: the permit, the course enrolment and a supervisor.
The supervision has a looser setting too: the supervisor may provide a more indirect degree of supervision when satisfied that the trainee is competent and the work would not put anyone’s health or safety at risk.
Occupations and businesses that use pesticides in New South Wales must be licensed by the EPA.
Source: NSW EPA, pest management technicians and training permits; Service NSW, fumigator licence.
The 84-day exemption
Studying and working can start out of step for a trainee technician.
Under the EPA’s exemption, a trainee pest management or timber pest technician with a valid permit may begin work before enrolling in the approved course, for up to 84 days.
Time then runs against the trainee. The date the work started has to be reported to the EPA within five days of it starting.
The exemption applies only where the conditions it sets are met, and one of them is age: a trainee must be 17 years of age or above.
Source: NSW EPA, pest management technicians and training permits.
Timber pests
Timber pest work is a licence of its own, learned after the first.
The timber pest licence builds on the first: its applicant needs the pest management technician training and, added to it, extra nationally recognised timber pest training.
The licence the timber path builds on has a code list of its own.
To obtain a standard pest management technician licence, an applicant must complete all of the following core competencies, drawn from the CPP Property Services Training Package, the former PRM04 Asset Management Training Package:
- CPPUPM3005, managing pests without applying pesticides
- CPPUPM3006, managing pests by applying pesticides
- CPPUPM3018, maintaining equipment and pesticide storage areas in pest management vehicles
The timber pest licence’s training includes CPPUPM3008, for inspecting and reporting on timber pests, and the fumigator licence’s training includes CPPUPM3011, for managing organisms by applying fumigants to commodities and environments.
A working technician moving into timber pests does not go back to the start.
A pest management technician training for the timber pest licence does not need to take out a training permit for it.
That training also travels: the timber pest unit list is the standard Australia’s agriculture ministers approved, and other states and territories require it too.
Source: NSW EPA, pest management technicians and training permits.
Fumigation
Fumigation is a third licence type, granted on its own application.
A fumigator licence is valid for 5 years, and the age for the applicant is set at 18 years or older.
The training requirements for a fumigator licence were changed in May 2020.
The EPA’s training permit rule covers fumigation work the same way as pest management technician work: no licence yet means a permit and an approved course.
Source: NSW EPA, pest management technicians and training permits; Service NSW, fumigator licence.
The order a trainee meets them
- Before startingHold a training permit and be taking an approved course of training for the work.
- Up to 84 daysThe exemption allows work to begin without enrolment in the approved course.
- Within 5 daysThe date the work started is reported to the EPA.
- Later, for timber pestsExtra nationally recognised training; a current pest management technician takes out no new permit for it.
- For fumigationA separate licence, on its own application, valid for 5 years.
Source: NSW EPA, pest management technicians and training permits; Service NSW, fumigator licence.
Once licensed
The training does not have to be refreshed to keep the licence alive. Training does not have to be refreshed while a licence stays current.
A new licence must be applied for within 60 days of the expiry date.
One more change is in the air: a new licence for timber pest technicians in NSW is being phased in.
Supervision, meanwhile, stays a matter of matching licences: the person supervising a trainee must hold the licence that corresponds to the kind of work the trainee is doing.
Source: NSW EPA, pest management technicians and training permits.
Who may treat your home in New South Wales, and whether a training permit is enough, is decided by the NSW Environment Protection Authority.