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Training Courses

We provide a comprehensive range of training courses for SDA Delegates each year.

Completing SDA Delegate training each year is a key component in ensuring you’re prepared to best engage with, represent and empower SDA members at your workplace.

These courses are designed to provide you with the skills, knowledge and confidence to advocate for better and fairer outcomes in your workplace.

Our training courses generally run between March and December each year.

Delegate Courses

Introductory Delegates

The course is designed to give you the skills and knowledge needed to become an effective workplace representative.

It builds skills in representing workers, communicating with co-workers and management, and promoting co-operative workplace relations.

Advanced Course: Effective Negotiation

Negotiation is a valuable skill in the professional world and this workshop will focus on using a collaborative approach to negotiation, with the goal being a win-win situation for all parties.

Participants will explore conflict styles and work through an interactive exercise that will see them experience a collaborative approach to negotiation, whilst also exploring how to negotiate with a more hostile stakeholder.

This course will also develop your understanding of Emotional Intelligence and enable participants to learn to recognise and respond to those with different behavioural preferences, hence adhering to the “Golden Rule: Treat others as they would like to be treated.

Advanced Course: Politics at Work, Impacting Change in Parliament

This course seeks to develop a deeper understanding of the Australian democratic process.

This course includes a session at South Australian Parliament House and will give Delegates the opportunity to speak directly to both State and Federal Members of Parliament to better understand how laws are made and the impacts of them in your workplaces.

Advanced Course: The Importance of Telling Your Story

This course seeks to build and help you develop your “story of self”, “the story of you”, your values and why it matters when speaking to your co-workers.

Throughout the course you will work with other Delegates to build your confidence speaking with each other, your workmates and management.

Advanced Course: Accidental Counsellor

This course will build on and develop your skills as an “Accidental Counsellor”. Recognising that becoming an unexpected counsellor often comes as part of the job.

This course will help you to respond to members when they are angry, distressed or experiencing a challenging time at work and/or at home. It is facilitated by an external facilitator from Lifeline. Places are strictly limited.

Advanced Course: Industrial Skills - Your Rights and the Law

This course provides foundational knowledge of the Australian industrial relations system.

From dispute to resolution the course provides overview internal and external dispute mechanisms including the SAET, the Fair Work Commission and the Federal Court. This session also provides an understanding of the South Australian WorkCover system.

Regional Delegates Training

A combined New & Advanced Training opportunity for regional SDA Delegates.

This course is designed to develop and build on core industrial skills from workplace representation to developing communications skills to achieve positive outcomes. It brings together aspects of a range of other courses including Effective Negotiation, The Importance of Telling Your Story and Industrial Skills.

Health & Safety Courses (powered by JobSafe SA)

Health and Safety Representative – Initial Training (Level 1) - (5 days)

This course is designed for Health and Safety Representatives who are in their first year of their term or who have not previously attended training.

The Course aims to:

  • develop the skills and confidence to enable health and safety representatives to participate effectively and constructively in workplace consultation and develop positive attitudes to occupational health and safety;
  • provide health and safety representatives with a working knowledge of the Work Health and Safety Act 2012, other relevant legislation and approved codes of practice; and use of Hazard management approaches to manual handling;
  • Assist Health and Safety Representatives to understand the principles of hazard identification, risk assessment and risk control;

Topics covered include:

  • Introduction to Health and Safety in the Workplace
  • Introduction to Work Health and Safety Act 2012
  • Role of the Health and Safety Representative
  • Hazard Management
  • Health and Safety Committees in the Workplace
  • Workers Rehabilitation and Compensation
  • Organisation, Consultation and Negotiation Skills

Health and Safety Representative – Level 2 Training - (3 days)

This course is designed for Health and Safety Representatives who have completed HSR Training Level 1 and are generally in the second year of their three year term.

This Level Two Course aims to add and extend the range of skills and knowledge acquired in the 5 Day Initial Course.

Participants are able to select areas directly relevant to their workplace such as Manual Handling, plant and structures and hazardous work .

Participants will also review the WHS Act again and be updated on any changes to the Act, regulations and/or Codes of Practice that are relevant to their workplace.

Health and Safety Representative - Level 3 Training - (5 Days)

Continuing Training Courses are for HSR’s who have completed the first two levels of training and aim to develop, reinforce and add to the range of skills and knowledge already acquired by Health and Safety Representatives in previous training.

These courses are flexible to ensure they meet the needs and requirements of HSRs and their workplaces.

Topics often covered include:

  • WHS Reporting;
  • WHS Training;
  • Incident & Injury Management:
  • Risk Assessment;
  • Hazard reporting;
  • Plant & equipment.