FIFO careers
A practical career map for tradespeople, operators, supervisors and support professionals working toward stronger Australian FIFO opportunities.
Start where you are
FIFO is a work arrangement, not a single occupation. Choose the path that matches the capability you can already demonstrate.
Choose a realistic role first. Then work backwards through the qualification, evidence and entry routes employers actually use.
Follow this path →02Translate your trade into mining-relevant assets, work types and evidence instead of relying on the qualification alone.
Follow this path →03Turn campaign experience into stronger site exposure, referees and proof that can support more consistent work.
Follow this path →04Build evidence of planning, communication, documentation and accountability before chasing the next title.
Follow this path →New role library
Use 20 detailed profiles to compare duties, equipment, qualifications, roster context, salary bands, entry pathways and progression.
The progression system
Progression is not automatic. Site requirements, vacancies, performance, competence and business conditions all matter.
Career pathways
Each family contains different entry requirements, licences and work environments. The examples below are a navigation aid, not an exhaustive occupation list.
Images: representative editorial visuals from The FIFO Hub media library; not claimed as photographs of a particular employer, role or worksite.
2026 Salary Hub
Explore 90 mining and resources bands, hourly and shutdown rates, regional benchmarks, a transparent roster calculator and the free subscriber Field Guide.
The recruiter's evidence test
Licences and role-relevant tickets matter where they are legally or operationally required. But shortlisting often turns on whether the employer can understand your actual scope, asset exposure and accountability.
Be precise about what you owned, what you assisted with and what someone else signed off.
Shutdown or rostered maintenance?
Time-critical inspection, repair and replacement work completed while plant is unavailable.
Planned, preventive, corrective and breakdown work completed across the continuing operating cycle.
Practical route: Shutdown contracting can be a credible entry or evidence-building pathway while you continue applying for rostered roles. It is not a guaranteed conversion into permanent employment. Compare the work, income pattern, lifestyle and evidence in detail →
Electrical shutdown role guide
Shutdown electrical work compresses inspection, maintenance, repair, testing and handover into a defined plant outage. Scope can span conveyors, stackers, reclaimers, shiploaders, motors, switchgear, control systems and non-process infrastructure.
Check tickets and licencesCompletes inspection, installation, repair, testing and verification work inside a tightly sequenced outage window.
Name the asset, voltage and system boundaries, isolation and permit context, test method, result, quality record and person who supervised or verified the work.
Directs the day-to-day work of electricians, apprentices and trade assistants while remaining close to field execution.
Show crew size, work fronts coordinated, sequencing decisions, constraints escalated, quality checks completed and how you handled supervision—not just the title.
Plans and oversees electrical work, people, safety and quality across one or more shutdown work fronts.
Demonstrate supervisory experience, industrial electrical depth, planning, crew leadership, safety judgement, documentation and outcomes that a referee can verify.
Important: This is a capability pathway, not an automatic promotion ladder. A leading hand or company electrical supervisor title does not itself create a Schedule 26 statutory appointment.
Tickets, licences and mobilisation
The supplied shutdown packs treated all of these items as mobilisation prerequisites. In practice, the legal requirement and expiry rule depend on the task, equipment, work area and site.
The supplied electrician assignment called for a WA A Grade licence. The regulator—not an employer label—determines what work a licence authorises.
Required where the shutdown activity is construction work. It does not replace site or task-specific training.
The supplied mobilisation packs expected CPR/LVR issued within the previous 12 months. Confirm the site currency rule.
Common shutdown prerequisites. They are task and site dependent, and evidence must remain current under the assignment rules.
A WP licence applies to boom-type elevating work platforms with an 11-metre or greater boom. Other equipment and tasks can have different requirements.
An access credential for secure maritime zones, not an electrical qualification. Background checking and issue time mean early action may be necessary.
These support identity, travel and fitness-for-work checks. Requirements and privacy processes vary by assignment.
Operator and work-front specific. Never assume an induction for one site transfers to another.
Unrestricted WA electrical licence, White Card where construction work is involved, CPR/LVR, working at heights, WP high-risk work licence, confined space, gas testing, first-attack firefighting, driver licence and site electrical inductions.
Instrumentation, electrical equipment in hazardous areas and high-voltage switching capability appeared as desirable additions in the supplied role profiles. They are not substitutes for authorisation or site appointment.
Keep clear front-and-back card copies, statements of attainment, licence numbers and expiry dates. Confirm the written mobilisation checklist before paying for training.
Schedule 26 supervisors · Western Australia
“S26” is often used loosely on shutdowns. WA law separates the electrical supervisor in Schedule 26 clause 5 from the statutory supervisor in clause 3. A worker may be eligible for one, or appointed to both, but the pathways are not identical.
Electrical supervisors need the electrical qualification or unrestricted licence and relevant heavy-industry experience. Statutory supervisors need relevant operational experience and the legislation exam.
Both AQF level 4 pathways require BSBWHS411 plus either BSBWHS414 or RIIRIS402E, according to the regulator's October 2025 approved-units sheet.
Mine operators may add technical checklists, interviews, site training and evidence reviews before deciding that a candidate is competent for an appointed scope.
The mine operator or site senior executive records the appointment and its scope in the mine safety management system. A course, exam pass or job title does not self-appoint you.
The progression pathway
The strongest candidates build supervisory judgement before chasing the appointment. Use the pathway to plan evidence, training and employer conversations in the right order.
Develop verifiable experience on relevant fixed plant, workshops, processing areas or shutdown work fronts. Record assets, duties, decisions and referees.
Use leading-hand or acting-supervisor opportunities to demonstrate task allocation, permit and isolation interfaces, quality checks, handovers and crew communication.
Confirm whether the vacancy needs a Schedule 26 electrical supervisor, a statutory supervisor for an appointed place, or one person eligible for both.
Both pathways require BSBWHS411 plus either BSBWHS414 or RIIRIS402E under the regulator's October 2025 approved-units sheet.
Statutory-supervisor candidates pass the WorkSafe legislation exam through MSPP. Electrical-supervisor candidates do not sit this exam unless they also need another appointment that requires it.
Complete the mine operator's technical, leadership, site-system and appointment checks. These can be more demanding than the regulatory minimum.
The mine operator or site senior executive records the role and scope in the mine safety management system. Eligibility or a job title alone is not an appointment.
Sequence note: WorkSafe publishes the units, experience and examination as eligibility requirements for appointment. Its public guidance does not state that every candidate must finish both units before every exam booking. MSPP controls the current enrolment and document checks; completing the units first is a practical planning order, not a substitute for checking your live portal pathway.
Choose the correct legal lane
The WorkSafe legislation examination applies to the clause 3 statutory-supervisor pathway. It does not apply to the clause 5 electrical-supervisor pathway.
Safe supervision of electrical plant, electrical work and electrical-work inspections.
Supervision of workers and risk controls in a defined appointed place such as a workshop or processing plant.
Unrestricted WA electrician's licence, or an eligible electrical engineering qualification.
No specific trade qualification is prescribed for this position.
BSBWHS411 plus either BSBWHS414 or RIIRIS402E.
BSBWHS411 plus either BSBWHS414 or RIIRIS402E.
At least two years carrying out electrical work in mining or another heavy industry.
At least two years as a supervisor or worker in a similar operation or industry.
No. WorkSafe expressly lists electrical supervisors as exempt.
Yes. Pass the applicable statutory-supervisor legislation examination.
Written appointment by the mine operator or site senior executive under the operation's governance.
Written appointment by the mine operator or site senior executive for the nominated place or scope.
Electrical appointment functions
The electrical supervisor is responsible to the site senior executive or exploration manager for the safe operation of electrical plant at the mine.
Supervise electrical plant installation, maintenance and testing efficiently.
Ensure electrical work, plant and installations are adequately supervised, installed, tested and maintained safely.
Stop the use of electrical plant or installations considered dangerous.
Report electrical safety concerns, electric shock or burns, electrical fires and dangerous electrical occurrences.
Maintain the required information in the mine electrical log book and support electrical-work inspections.
The “DMIRS exam” explained
Industry still commonly calls it the DMIRS exam. The current regulator pathway is administered by WorkSafe WA through the Mines Statutory Positions Portal. A general statutory supervisor sits the legislation exam; an electrical supervisor does not, unless another required appointment brings an exam obligation.
Intent of the WHS Act and WHS Mines Regulations, duties and regulator functions.
Ability to navigate any relevant part of the Act or WHS Mines Regulations.
Legislation applying to the statutory position being sought.
The exam tests whether a prospective statutory supervisor can understand duties, find the controlling provision and apply role-specific mining law. That matters because the appointment is expected to support active supervision and risk control in a defined mine workplace—not simply add a credential to a resume.
Do not confuse the exams: A general Schedule 26 statutory supervisor needs the legislation exam, not the separate mining-practice exam used for certain certificated underground and quarry-manager pathways.
Regulator minimum versus site sign-off
Meeting Schedule 26 eligibility allows appointment. It does not oblige an operator to appoint you, and an appointment at one operation does not automatically transfer to another.
Some operations may use a General Manager or SSE competence review and written appointment without the same additional electrical-checklist stage. A lower internal threshold does not reduce the Schedule 26 eligibility requirements or the operator's duty to appoint a competent person.
Operator-process boundary: The BHP WAIO and Fortescue examples describe industry practice supplied to The FIFO Hub; public regulator sources do not publish these companies' current internal interview checklists. Confirm the latest appointment matrix, interviewer and transfer rules with the relevant operator before relying on the pathway.
Build the appointment file
Collect this evidence before a vacancy or shutdown campaign creates a short deadline.
USI, valid photo ID, MSPP account and current contact details.
Statements of attainment for BSBWHS411 and BSBWHS414 or RIIRIS402E.
Unrestricted WA electrical licence or qualifying engineering evidence for the electrical-supervisor pathway.
Employers, dates, mine or heavy-industry setting, appointed areas, work fronts and referees covering the required two years.
WorkSafe record of examination for the statutory-supervisor pathway; verify it through the public register where required.
Crew size, decisions, risk controls, inspections, defects, handovers, incidents, coaching and quality outcomes you can explain.
Requires the electrical qualification or unrestricted licence, approved WHS risk units and two years of mining or heavy-industry electrical work. WorkSafe lists this position as exempt from the legislation examination.
Supervises workers in an appointed place and requires two years of relevant experience, approved WHS risk units and the applicable WorkSafe legislation exam.
A shutdown role may require one person to satisfy and formally accept both appointments. If so, the general statutory-supervisor exam requirement still applies to that second appointment.
Current as at 28 August 2026: The transition period ended on 30 March 2026. CPR/LVR, first aid, working at heights, confined space, HV switching and site inductions may still be required for the job or work front, but they are not substitutes for the Schedule 26 eligibility criteria above. Confirm the latest approved units, examination pathway and written appointment scope directly with WorkSafe WA and the mine operator.
Illustrative shutdown pay
These are anonymised examples from supplied 2025–26 shutdown assignment sheets. They are not a market average, award rate, current vacancy or guaranteed offer.
Fortnightly pay, typical 12-hour day or night shifts, 12% super on up to 76 hours per pay period, and two hours of paid travel each way from the nominated point of hire.
Whether the rate is flat or attracts overtime, casual loading or allowances; which hours attract super; travel and stand-down rules; point of hire; cancellation terms; tools; accommodation; and unpaid induction time.
No standalone pay figure was provided for the generic leading hand or non-statutory electrical supervisor profiles. Do not infer one from the S26 example.
Representative progression
These ladders show common directions, not promised sequences. People may specialise, move sideways, retrain or remain highly skilled individual contributors.
Before the next application
One or two job families, not every vacancy with FIFO in the title.
Sites, assets, dates, work scopes, responsibilities, outcomes and supervisors.
Current trade, driver and high-risk work licences relevant to the actual role and state.
A concise record of relevant work—not a copied position description or ticket inventory.
Specific stories covering safety judgement, diagnosis, teamwork, quality and handover.
People who directly observed the work and have agreed to be contacted.
Sources and official pathways
Checked 28 August 2026. Requirements and program availability can change.
Current Western Australian electrical licence and recognition information.
Current qualification, experience and appointment criteria, including electrical supervisors.
The regulator-approved units of competency for Schedule 26 and other statutory positions.
Current functions, eligibility, appointed places and appointment responsibilities.
Current primary legislation, including Schedule 26 clauses 3 and 5 and electrical inspection requirements.
Current three-section exam format, permitted materials, pass mark and attempt limit.
Register, enrol in the statutory learning pathway, book an exam and download the record of examination.
Current Cannington and Kalgoorlie dates, venue capacity and assessment-arrangement guidance.
How written acceptance and statutory appointments are recorded in the mine safety management system.
Validate a person's passed legislation exam or applicable statutory certificate.
Guidance on when shutdown work may be construction work and when a White Card is required.
Official descriptions covering dogging, rigging, scaffolding and other licensed high-risk work.
Supplied source material: Duties, mobilisation items and illustrative rates above were synthesised from five shutdown electrician, leading-hand, electrical-supervisor and statutory-supervisor documents supplied to The FIFO Hub. Employer, client, induction-code and training-provider names were removed. Current statutory statements were checked against the regulator and legislation linked above.
Independent guidance: The FIFO Hub is not a mine operator, regulator or registered training organisation. Confirm licensing, qualifications, site prerequisites and vacancies with the relevant authority, training provider and employer before paying for training or applying.