When the pandemic hit back at the beginning of 2020, it was still necessary for underground surveyors to have the training that they needed in order to locate and identify underground services. After all, while some construction projects were put on hold, other work always needs to continue, such as locating and repairing faults in water pipes, telecoms, electricity, gas, and so on. In fact, quick repairs of faults to telecoms became even more essential with everyone working from home. No broadband = no work.
Now, of course, the actual location and identification of underground services is physical work and has to be carried out on site. But at least this is in the open air rather than in a building, so the chances of the infection being transferred is minimal. Nonetheless, that part of the training courses that we run had to be done on location.
Online Training
However, before
carrying out any practical work, it is necessary to understand what the CAT and
Genny are, how they work, and how to use them, and traditionally we had always
carried out this training in the classroom. However, with the pandemic in full
flow, we quickly turned to online CAT
and Genny training using software such as Zoom. Fortunately, the
software is interactive, and therefore means that on our live online cable
avoidance training course attendees can still ask questions of our
instructor and get the answers that they need.
Once the online
part of the course had been completed, we then had to meet up on site, of
course, so that attendees could use the CAT and Genny in practical
circumstances and practice what they had learned in the online CAT and Genny
training class. However, we restricted the number of attendees on site to a
maximum of four. It all worked extremely well, and our operatives were able to
get the training that they required in order to carry out the location and
identification of underground services.
In fact, our onlinecable avoidance training course was so successful that we are still
providing it today, although, of course, we have also gone back to physical
classroom training if you prefer. This means that you can learn all of the
basics that you need to know online without having to travel, and also saves on
overnight hotel costs and so on.
