The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has given Reliability Engineer its own standalone occupation classification in the draft release of the 2027 Occupation Standard Classification for Australia (OSCA), following a submission from the Mining and Automotive Skills Alliance (AUSMASA).

The change gives Reliability Engineer its own six-digit code, 24535, recognising it as a distinct occupation rather than within the broader Industrial, Mechanical and Production Engineers grouping.

The AUSMASA submission was developed through extensive industry consultation and highlighted the role’s distinct skills, responsibilities and growing importance across industry.

AUSMASA CEO Dr Gavin Lind said classifying an emerging and overlooked occupation would improve visibility and recognition for Reliability Engineers.

"It's great to see the response to our submission to the ABS, and to effect change based on industry feedback and emerging trends," Dr Lind said.

"OSCA classification also enables understanding of workforce participation and shortages and allows government incentives to encourage uptake of training for a particular occupation."

The submission highlighted the role's distinct focus on asset reliability, performance analysis, risk management, failure prevention and digital diagnostics across the asset life cycle. In practice, these roles require broad technical knowledge, advanced diagnostic capability, autonomous judgement and systems-wide thinking. According to the submission, there were over 2000 vacancies for the occupation in 2022.

Mining and automotive stakeholders can propose a new OSCA occupation, request an update to an existing one or discuss workforce insights with AUSMASA's Research team.

Consultation on draft 2027 OSCA now open

The consultation period for the draft version of 2027 OSCA is open until 18 September 2026

Stakeholders to provide feedback on the draft version of the classification before the updated version is officially released in March 2027.

If you are supportive of the addition of Reliability Engineer or if you have any other feedback about the 2027 OSCA draft version, please submit below.