There's nothing NORmal about training course development

Full text: The radiation safety training landscape in Australia is complicated. There are some sectors of our industry that are well catered for with regard to formal and practical training programs. Other parts of our industry have less straight forward or less complete programs available. There has long been a need to develop advanced level radiation safety training material specific to the mining industry. For personnel engaged as Radiation Safety Officers (RSO) in the mining of radioactive material, training is often a mixture of multiple training courses patched together, internal training program development, importing of knowledge and/or mentoring programs. Over a number of years ANSTO has developed a comprehensive radiation safety training course specifically addressing the management of NORM, aimed at those with RSO level responsibilities. This course is designed to provide the knowledge and practical skills required within the mining industry, to compliment other training such as mentoring programs. This paper discusses some of the difficulties in the development of such a training course and the methodologies utilised to address these. This includes understanding industry needs, preparing content against different regulatory requirements, balancing expectations from industry, regulators and what we think people need to know, and utilising the most appropriate teaching techniques to the course's delivery. Some are unique to this specific course whilst others are applicable to all in our industry who are developing radiation safety training material. (author)