Recommendation – Education – Networking
Education and Training
Since the founding of the association, education and training in HDD technology in Europe has been a critical component of the DCA’s range of services.
The module consists of:
- Basic training and further education of your operational staff
- Opportunities for your management staff to participate in DCA task groups, workshops, conferences and member forums
- Promotion of young professionals at universities, universities of applied sciences and other Institutions for your prospective junior staff.
The aim of the training and further education of your staff is to steadily increase the acceptance of this environmentally friendly construction method among clients and planners by constantly improving the quality of preperation.
The professional planning of a HDD in combination with and high quality execution form the basis of a successful project. This applies equally to contractors, clients and planners.
Below you will find a brief overview of the individual training and further education measures of the association.
As early as the mid-1990s, the first courses for training drillmasters (HDD) and shift supervisors were held in Germany at the Bohrmeisterschule Celle by the DCA. In October 2003, after the successful implementation of the DVGW worksheet GW321 “Controllable Horizontal Flush Drilling Methods for Gas and Water Pipelines – Requirements, Quality Assurance and Testing”, the training to become:
- a maschine operator,
- a site manager and
- a technical supervision for the groups > 40 t and < 40 t tractive force respectively.
The course contents, instructors and final examinations in the individual courses documented in worksheet GW 329 (syllabus and examination plan) were largely determined, provided or accompanied by the DCA. The courses are still held in Germany today in cooperation with the DVGW and the Berufsförderungswerk des Rohrleitungsbauverbandes (brbv) at the Bohrmeisterschule Celle. In addition to the basic training courses, there are also courses for mud technology specialists, among others. DCA members pay reduced fees.
The training and further education of staff is not an end in itself for the DCA. It is one of the conditions for the qualification (certification) of specialist companies in Germany. No quality in execution without skilled personnel in the company!
In terms of certification, the DCA has been working with the DVGW’s accredited certification body, accredited certificationbody, DVGW Cert GmbH, for a long time.DVGW Cert GmbH is also an extraordinary member of the DCA. The team of experts there, which is responsible, among other things, for conducting the technical discussions within the scope of certification, is supported by the former president of the DCA and current board member Dipl.-Ing. (FH) Marc Schnau. Thus, in addition to the technical management of the training courses, the DCA is also active in the front line in the area of certification. The annual further training measures according to GW 329 traditionally take place at the beginning of December in the Schlosshotel Kassel. In the Netherlands and France, the DCA has been striving to install a similar system.
In addition to the cooperation with our partners in the field of education and training, there are regular opportunities for international professional exchange for your senior personnel in working groups, at conferences (including the Oldenburg Piping Forum), in workshops and at member forums. The DCA offers a multi-layered field of activity on current and interesting topics in HDD technology (including subsoil and HDD, coatings, disposal of drilling mud and much more…).
In 2018, the so-called DCA Members’ Forum HDD-Technology was designed especially for members, which was set up as an internal association platform for members to exchange experiences.
Furthermore, the association is also interested in the promotion of your prospective junior staff (young scientists in the HDD industry). The DCA board has therefore decided to launch a new sponsorship program in place of the sponsorship award to support student research papers, bachelor’s theses or master’s theses on interesting topics related to HDD technology as they are being written. The sponsorship programme will be endowed with € 5,000 per yearand distributed or ad-justed according to the topics at hand.
Last but not least, DCA offers its foreign members the opportunity to actively participate in the exchange of experience at virtually all association events (annual congress, workshops, general meetings, member forums, etc.) by setting up linguistically separate groups (German/English) or by providing high-quality simultaneous translation experienced in HDD.
In addition, the association is constantly working on the introduction of international basic training and further education in HDD technology. In the Netherlands, Deltares – an associate member of the DCA – has been successfully running training events for maschine operators for years. Further steps should follow soon in other European countries.