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Vermeer Announces New HDD Operator Training Program Adapted from a Press Release by Vermeer Corporation The recent shortage of drill operators in the horizontal directional drilling (HDD) industry, has not gone unnoticed by Vermeer Corporation which has introduced an intensive HDD operator training program called HDD Circuit™. The HDD Circuit training program is a tuition-based, instructor- led program providing a mix of classroom time and hands-on expe- rience in a small-group learning environment. During each two-week course, students will be exposed to topics on HDD safety, jobsite evaluation and setup, drill operation best practices, underground utility locating, and potholing best practices, drilling fluid mixing and testing, proper bore and pullback techniques including the de- velopment of a bore to plan, as well as basic drill maintenance and inspection. “We have heard a consistent message from underground contractors that they are having difficulty completing work due to a lack of qualified drill operators. With HDD Circuit, Vermeer is working to help grow the industry with trained operators,” said Tony Bokhoven, Lifecycle training manager at Vermeer. “We are working to cultivate a pool of potential drill operators that will make HDD a career to help fill the positions available today and into the future.” The goal of the training program is that each student who successfully com- pletes the program will be able to be a productive drill operator or crew member. Students must complete and pass a writ- ten test and hands-on evaluation to pass the program and receive a certificate of completion. “We recognize that not every ground condition or every situation a drill operator may face in the field will be present during the training,” said Dave Wisniewski, vice president, Underground products at Vermeer. “What we're teaching them is how to fundamentally be an operator, so they start to know what to look for, what to feel for, and how to properly handle situations.” The training is being offered to con- tractors who can select and send their cur- rent employees to the HDD Circuit training program. MasTec - a leading infrastructure construction company - is taking advantage of the program; eight employees who have been with the company for a period of 12 months, just completed the two-week core HDD module. “The MasTec Utility Services Group was thrilled to be a part of the HDD Circuit training pilot because programs like this are very well aligned with our mission to provide world-class training to our em- ployees,” said John Congemi, director of employee development for MasTec. “Our partnership with Vermeer will play a vital role in our long-term directional drilling and locating training strategy.” +3$ (1 -.2 )312 /0("$ !32 2'$ .4$0 ++ 1$04("$ -# $6/$0($-"$ .%%$0$# !7 '0../ ."* (2 .,/ -7 - $&(12$0$# 0& -(8 2(.- .6 9 .-* 5 6 , (+ 1 +$1 2'0../0."*!(2 "., 555 2'0../0."*!(2 "., 21 WorldWide Drilling Resource ® FEBRUARY 2016