By ALAN PERROTT
If you know a spade from a shovel you could be halfway to passing New Zealand's first course on how to dig a hole.
The qualification has been set up after Auckland's city councils and utility companies got fed up with contractors slicing through power cables.
Auckland City utility planning manager Des Hughes has wanted such training measures since First Media began installing television cables in east Auckland in 1997.
"There were quite a few cowboys around then who were blowing up cables at a rate of ten a week.
"That's a lot of sparks."
Mr Hughes also wants to improve the digging abilities of the workers excavating Auckland's roads.
Each hole degrades the roadway, so eventually the surface must be replaced.
Enter Henderson-based Utilitech, which launches its two-part, two-day course for budding diggers next year.
Once the qualification is established, anyone caught digging up Auckland's roads or grass verges without a certificate will be fined.
Utilitech business manager Ross Gamble expects the national certificate in utility services - underground course - to attract 2500 students in its first year.
It will be divided into two parts - excavating and reinstating underground utility sites and planning and controlling on-site excavation, and reinstating underground utility sites.
Obviously, digging a hole involves more than getting blisters.
First there is paperwork.
Every hole requires a road-opening notice from the council, giving details of pipes, cables or sewers filling the space to be emptied.
Then the site must be returned to its original state.
This includes making sure fill does not sink and leave an obstacle for unwary pedestrians.
Tom Leong, secretary of the Auckland Utility Operators Group, said the course would make gas, power, communication and water networks more efficient and cost effective.
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