FIFO services for a rail track operator

Programmed has supplied a leading Australian rail track operator with fitters and electricians for the maintenance and servicing of their rail track grinding machine since September 2009.

In the rail industry, finding high calibre and fully certified rail fitters and electricians is a difficult challenge. The specialist training and certifications needed to work in these types of roles mean that qualified operators are few and far between. Further to this, the rail network extends across vast and remote areas of Australia, which means workers must cover very large distances and often work across multiple states. To address these challenges, Programmed uses its established fly-in-fly-out (FIFO) capability to meet labour requirements all across Australia.

Programmed employees work in small on-site teams in servicing or maintenance roles across day and night shifts. We complete a workplace risk assessment at the depot site, and use our national footprint across regional and remote Australia to complete other safety interactions closer to the site.

In order to meet our customer’s requirements, we mobilised our resources to the locations where their skill sets are most needed.

We keep in regular contact with customer representatives to ensure they are satisfied with our performance.

In most cases, we fill 100% of order requests by using existing resources in our database, and only advertising specifically when required. Programmed also provides each candidate with a realistic job preview, as the conditions can be hard on-site.

Employee tenure on site has been excellent, with the last recruitment drive in May 2012. Five out of seven employees are still currently with our customer and we have one employee who has been with them since October 2011. This is a strong result given the nature of the work involved.

Our customer relies on Programmed’s national capability to service their requirements, while our truly national employee database and FIFO capability allows us to widen the candidate pool. The benefit to our customer is that no matter where Programmed employees are working, there is a Programmed branch and team nearby if assistance is required.