A new profession - deminer - has officially appeared in Ukraine

A new profession - deminer - has officially appeared in Ukraine

The National Qualifications Agency has approved the occupational standard "Explosive Ordnance Detection Operator (Deminer)". This was reported by the press service of the Ministry of Economy.

"Until now, we did not have a professional deminer standard. In fact, the operators were forced to independently train specialists for humanitarian demining according to their own developed programs. The presence of a professional standard that meets international requirements (IMAS – International Mine Action Standards) creates uniform rules for everyone and significantly expands opportunities for training deminers. In particular, this will allow veterans to be involved in humanitarian demining, who after training will be able to work for both Ukrainian and international mine action operators," said Deputy Minister of Economy of Ukraine Ihor Bezkaravainy.

After the approval of the standard, a number of measures will be taken to introduce the new profession into the legal field: assignment of a code, regulation of wages. And also, on the basis of the professional standard, they will develop the corresponding educational standard. This will allow, after receiving accreditation from the Ministry of Education and Culture, to graduate deminers on a par with other professions.

An approved professional standard that meets the requirements of IMAS will allow specialists who have an international certificate to confirm their qualifications in Ukraine. This also means that Ukrainian deminers who will undergo training according to the new standard will also be able to work in international companies without the need to start training from the very beginning.

The developed standard provides for five levels of training. The basic level will allow a specialist to be involved in a non-technical inspection, the next - the possibility to conduct a technical inspection. Next is the demining of territories, buildings, etc. The department noted that people with disabilities, including those with amputations, can work as a deminer in non-technical survey of the territory with the help of drones and other equipment. This opens up long-term prospects for work in this area.

"Humanitarian demining is a new industry for Ukraine, which is growing rapidly and will exceed 10,000 people in the near future," said UDS Deputy General Director Volodymyr Beshlei.