Helping with disaster recovery assistance activities in Asakura City, Fukuoka Prefecture (Hitachi Construction Machinery Operators Training Center, Hitachi Construction Machinery Japan)

Hitachi Construction Machinery Operators Training Center conducted on-site training on Small-scale vehicle constructive machine in the Hiramatsu district of Asakura City, Fukuoka Prefecture from January 13 to 14.

Asakura City suffered from torrential rain that occurred in the north of Kyushu concentrated on Fukuoka and Oita Prefectures from July 5 to 6, 2017. Houses are still affected and there are many people who are unable to return to their homes. The implementation of training was realized after consultation with specified nonprofit organization Hatagaya RE-BIRTH UNIVERSITY Recovery and Reconstruction Department for the purpose of recovery assistance.

The Hatagaya RE-BIRTH UNIVERSITY Recovery and Reconstruction Department held the following hopes for the training. “We would like to introduce the characteristics of mini excavators with a short turning radius on narrow worksites, pass on information on how to acquire a qualification at training institution, and support acquisition for participants who want to handle recovery work by themselves. Also, for participants who have a qualification but have been away from operations for a while, we would like to create an opportunity where they can perform real work, such as excavating and dumping.”

Hitachi Construction Machinery Operators Training Center responded to this consultation and considered whether our special education for the Operation of Small-scale Vehicle Constructive Machines, which is usually done at our school, could be done off-site. We were able to carry out the training with the cooperation of the Kyushu Branch of Hitachi Construction Machinery Japan who delivered the real machines for us to use to the site.

For the classroom lecture on the 13th, we borrowed a community hall via the work of the Hatagaya RE-BIRTH UNIVERSITY Recovery and Reconstruction Department and the kindness of the Hiramatsu district, and implemented training. In the training using real machines on the 14th, a person who had been affected by the torrential rain provided a rice paddy as a training ground. The trainees actually operated a real mini excavator. They practiced earnestly so as to handle it safely from start to finish by going forwards, backwards, and turning. On the second day of training nine participants could obtain qualifications.