Call to bridge explosives skills gap as many current personnel approach retirement age
Knowledge management was key to bridging the knowledge gap in the explosives industry, North-West University chemical and mineral engineering lec- turer and explosives engineer-ing programme manager Joe-Nimique Cilliers said at the inaugural Explosives Education and Research in Africa confer-ence, in Fourways, earlier this month.
She highlighted that many of the industry’s experts were reaching retirement age and that more needed to be done to ensure the successful transfer of their knowledge to the next generation of explosives professionals.
While she acknowledged that formal education was indispensable, she pointed out that academic training could not provide the speciality knowl-edge and expertise provided by experience.
While the industry will always be in need of new talent, Cilliers asserted, the industry had to maintain the “wisdom” and knowledge of ageing special- ists, which required collabora-tion between all industry players across the various value chains, which she noted had a tendency to work in isolation.
“We need to develop a coordinated approach to focus the industry’s resources and to share learning to address the gap,” she said.
Cilliers suggested that companies operating in the explosives value chain should work with learning institutions to help determine the severity of the gap in order to implement plans to effectively address the challenge by introducing more and better-qualified explosives engineers.
“To achieve industry-relevant education, we need to build and maintain a close link with mining, military and industry management,” she stated.”
Comments
Research Reports
Projects
Latest Multimedia
Latest News
Showroom
Developed to exceed the latest EN 15964 standards for police breathalysers proving that it will remain accurate and reliable for many years to come.
VISIT SHOWROOM
Press Office
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation
