Brisbane-based Simtars, Central Highlands Safety Services, Central Queensland University, Current Training Queensland and TQ Mining Services, all based in Rockhampton, Lennon Training in Emerald, and IML International in Mackay formed the group to increase domestic and international business opportunities.

 

“By banding together, the organisations involved in the cluster will have increased bargaining power when tendering for mine safety training contracts,” Simtars director Stewart Bell said.

 

“The cluster allows us to develop these opportunities by marketing the services available to potential clients as an association of expertise in mine safety training and management.”

 

Through involvement in the cluster the organisations will be able to design more effective health and safety programs that can be customised for individual clients and translated into a number of different languages.

 

“One of the major aims of the cluster is to target export markets, particularly China and India, and by having this flexibility to design safety training programs, effective presentations can be developed to suit these international markets,” he said.

 

The group was originally developed after a government trade delegation to China in late 2004.