Horizontal directional drill operators are faced with many obstacles on a job site — from tough soil conditions, to rock and sometimes equipment that just won’t work like it is supposed to.
However, there are some other, off the job site, obstacles those contractors are facing too. One of the biggest discussed at the HDD Roundtable session on Monday afternoon at the NASTT No-Dig Show in Grapevine, Texas, was finding employees.
“One of the big issues the industry is facing is a lack of personnel,” says Sam Ariaratnam, professor and construction engineering program chair at the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering at Arizona State University.
Ariaratnam was one of four panelists for the roundtable session. He was joined by Kimberlie Staheli, president of Staheli Trenchless Consultants; Mary Neher, engineer for Bennett Trenchless Consultants; and Jeremy King, head of U.S. operations for The Crossing Company in California.
FINDING REPLACEMENTS
Ariaratnam noted that many companies around the nation are seeing an older workforce getting ready to retire.
“We have a lot of people that have retired or will be retiring, so that’s a big issue,” Ariaratnam says. “To try to curb that, some of the companies and organizations are creating field training centers so they can bring in new people and get them up to speed on all the nuances of horizontal directional drilling.”
The panelists agreed that it’s important to get trained individuals ready for when the current workforce does step aside. “These are the people that are going to be working on the crews in the future,” Ariaratnam says.
While training programs through associations, manufacturers and large specialized training centers are a great resource, King says employers should also look at local technical schools as well.
“Trade schools wouldn’t be a bad place to find skilled workers either, and it might be easier to find them there,” King says. “The workforce is probably the main thing everyone has to deal with sooner rather than later.”
MORE EDUCATION FOR EVERYONE
It’s not only the education of upcoming employees that remains a focus for the industry, but panelists also say education of the overall construction industry, especially the designers of the projects.
“As the industry has become bigger and bigger and more people have become aware of the capabilities of this technology and that this technology exists, we’ve seen more people who know just enough about it and try to design and construct it,” says Staheli.
Staheli says the engineers are designing and trying to construct the project without a full understanding of what goes into a HDD design-construction project.
“That can sometimes cause issues for everyone in the project,” Staheli says.
Panelists say one way to help curb that is for the contractors to speak up when they see something that they know won’t work on a project and educate those who planned it.
MORE TECHNOLOGY
To wrap up the 45-minute roundtable discussion, panelists were asked about what technologies they’ve seen emerge and become game changers. Most of the panelists focused on the locating aspect of the jobs.
“Locating has come a long way, but more can still be done,” Ariaratnam says. “I would love it if someone developed a tool where you see all the obstacles underground. There is room for improvement in this industry.”
