After reaching out to all women apprentices and trainees in civil construction in Victoria, we spoke to 60 women about their experiences. Our Authorised Officers visited them in the workplace or conducted phone interviews. Others contacted us through a BuildUP hotline.
We checked employer compliance against regulations that say they must:
- provide proper supervision by a suitably qualified or experienced person
- assign apprentices and trainees skilled work and training that relates to the qualification
- maintain a training plan that records progress
- release the apprentice or trainee to attend training at their registered training organisation (for example, a TAFE institution).
We were also on the lookout for employers that force apprentices and trainees to work in unsafe conditions, don’t pay them properly, bully them or do nothing to address bullying from other workers. The VRQA isn’t the regulator for these matters, but we work closely with agencies that are, and we share information with them.
Information sharing
Victoria’s regulatory agencies and authorities responsible for reducing the risk of harm for apprentices and trainees have agreed to timely sharing of information to improve the complaints resolution process for apprentices and trainees.
Read about the Heads of Agreement.
Updated