Hitchhiker pests and Greenlife retailer training

Do you or your staff work in the nursery industry?
Do you or your staff work with goods that have recently been imported into Australia?

If you answered yes, did you know that you are at the front line in helping to protect Australia’s lifestyle, environment and livelihoods?

Plant Health Australia’s Biosecurity Online Training (BOLT) platform hosts free online training to educate businesses and their staff on what suspicious plant pests and diseases to look out for and how to report anything unusual.

Hitchhiker Pests and Greenlife Retailer Pests and Diseases are two interactive e-learning courses available on BOLT, aimed at raising awareness of the impact pests and diseases can have on our livelihoods, lifestyles, and environment, how they can enter Australia, how to recognise their characteristics, and, most importantly, what to do if they see a suspected plant pest or disease.

Incorporating these free courses into your staff training and induction programs can help you safeguard your business and the wider community by ensuring that pests and diseases are detected early, and appropriate action is taken to prevent their spread.

A key factor in eradicating pests and diseases is early detection and reporting. Training your staff to identify threats before they reach your customers can:

• help minimise reputational risks
• reduce impact on your customers
• reduce downtime for business operations allowing for business continuity
• protect our valuable plant industries and natural environment.

These e-learning can be accessed through Biosecurity Online Training (BOLT) platform.

About the courses

Each course takes approximately 30 minutes to complete and is designed for users with a range of language and literacy skills. To access the courses, each learner is required to create a profile, which is a quick and simple process. Once a learner has a profile, they can enrol in any of the e-learning available on BOLT. The courses have been developed with the following learners in mind:

Hitchhiker Pests: For businesses and their staff that deal with goods and cargo at critical points along the supply chain, including warehouses, distribution centres, and large chain stores.

Greenlife Retailer Pests and Diseases: For farmers, home gardeners, revegetation groups, local councils, local fruit, nut and veggie producers, large and small retail nurseries, landscapers, and horticulturalists.

Interested in partnering with us? For more information on integrating these courses into your corporate training packages, contact: Plant Health Australia at [email protected]

To report a suspected plant pest or disease call the Exotic Plant Pest Hotline 1800 084 881.