There has been significant progress in the two major initiatives identified in the ASTT 2005 Business Plan (www.astt.com.au)
The first deals with the area of training and education, where ASTT set itself objectives to: “Achieve nationally recognised standards for competency in HDD and Rehabilitation”, and “Monitor applicable training programs”. Nationally accredited (Australian National Training Authority) standards for HDD have been developed in conjunction with the Civil Contractors Federation and based on feedback from many of you who participated throughout Australia. Work will commence shortly on competency standards for Rehabilitation.
The second component of this strategy concerns the development of training packages which will enable industry participation in the direct application of these standards. It is important to note hat these standards were developed specifically for Australasian conditions and requirements. The resource schedules for this work are also being compiled by the CCF, and will be made available shortly.
The second area of interest involves the preparation of Guidelines and Standards for Microtunnelling, HDD and Rehabilitation for Australasian Conditions. Two excellent reports have been produced by the consultants engaged to do this work. The first outlined the current status of the Trenchless Technology industry in the market; reviewed the current standards and guidelines available internationally for the application and utilisation of Trenchless Technology and discussed the manner in which Standards and Guidelines are currently used.
This provided an important precursor for the second report, which was to set out a proposed framework for the development and application of Standards and Guidelines for Australian conditions in the areas of microtunnelling, HDD and Rehabilitation. Work is continuing to determine the final recommendations to be presented by the consultants. These reports represent a major area of expenditure of the ASTT’s scarce resources, and will provide a clear way forward in addressing these important issues.
Menno Henneveld
Chairman, ASTT