The ASTT Roadshow toured Australia and New Zealand in most capital cities, educating a new audience about the many and varied benefits of Trenchless Technology. ASTT Chairman Trevor Gosatti said the ASTT fostered the program to provide essential training to council and utility workers as part of the objectives of the society.
“One of the key founding principles of the Society is to advance the science and practice of Trenchless Technology for public benefit,” Mr Gosatti said.
“It is of the utmost importance to the Society to encourage the interchange of knowledge on this specialist practice to the personnel in councils and utilities who make decisions on how major infrastructure projects will be undertaken.”
A diverse range of participants attended the two-day class: graduate engineers who were eager to learn; council representatives who came to learn about technologies that could be implemented in future projects and to take their new knowledge back to their councils; and experienced engineers who wanted to find out about the latest technologies to hit the market.
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Many of the questions posed to course leader Blair Telfer of ProjectMax from attendees were based on live projects that they were currently working on, so Mr Telfer’s input not only solved some of their current problems, but also presented options for them to take back to their council or contractors to consider.
In the post-training survey attendees said the key messages they took from the course included: planning and pre-planning are essential; every case needs to be assessed differently based on the job at hand; and risk assessment is crucial. Many also commented that they now have a sound overview of alternative technologies that are available for different situations.
While many attendees came from rehabilitation backgrounds, the course served to show that there is a wider scope of options available to them than they had previously thought, and all solutions should be considered before deciding on a rehabilitation method.
Mr Telfer kept the attendees engaged with interactive video case studies and group exercises. Many reported that it was great to have a course presenter who was unbiased and who had a range of visual content to support his years of knowledge. For many, it was a great introduction into Trenchless Technology and for others a great refresher and an opportunity to meet other industry associates.
While experienced engineers were already across the content of the course, they only had praise for the two-day specialist class. Many said that Blair’s knowledge was evident, and that the course was not just a refresher for them, but a great way to see different perspectives and hear about case studies in depth.
The ASTT Roadshow for 2012 marked the third time the ASTT has hit the road to spread the word about Trenchless Technology to a new audience. If you missed out this time, keep an eye and ear out for future Roadshows.
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