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Civil Construction Pre-Apprenticeship Program
The Gippsland Regional Industry Careers Adviser and Bairnsdale Adult Community Education centre worked with the Civil Contractors Federation to pilot a ten-week Civil Construction Pre-Apprenticeship program.
The Regional Industry Career Adviser in Bairnsdale was very enthusiastic about the initiative, which provided pre-employment training and industry placements for young people who were no longer involved in full-time education and training.
As part of the pilot, trainer Ian Fuhrmeister took four very enthusiastic young men on a tour of local infrastructure businesses so they could see first hand the activities they would undertake during their work placements.
The businesses visited covered concrete manufacture, asphalt manufacture and laying, local housing estate infrastructure (drainage), road construction, sewerage works and trenchless or horizontal directional drilling.
The highlight of the visits was the East Gippsland Water Project (final settling pond for the sewage treatment plant). This was extremely impressive. Peter Riley’s earthmoving team was busy excavating and moving massive amounts of earth to form the settlement pond, using lots of large machinery. Tom Seymour of Terra Firma Soil Testing told the students about different soils and the testing that had been used to ensure that the dam walls would be stable. In this instance, the soil types being excavated were all suitable for use in dam walls.
The final stop was to observe workers from BPR Trenching and Boring. They were drilling under about 50 metres of footpath and concrete driveways to install a PVC pipe that would house wiring and broadband cabling for Telstra.
It was a very informative day and expanded the group’s understanding of the role that infrastructure plays. The four young men selected for the pilot were enthusiastic about their training and looking forward to their work placements. They all see this as a stepping stone to obtaining a full-time apprenticeship in the industry sector.