You may have seen companies advertising cat training and laughed out loud. Surely it is not possible to train a cat? If you have ever kept one you will know that you can train it to arrive at the kitchen door when it is feeding time, but that’s about it. You most certainly can’t train a cat to do much else, as you could a dog. For instance, you can’t train a cat to round up sheep. Cat’s do their “own thing”. It has often been said that you don’t own a cat – the cat owns you!
However, the cat training we are referring to here is training in the use of the CAT – Cable Avoidance Tool – which is essential knowledge for anyone engaged in the location of underground services. As a contractor undertaking any sort of work which involves digging into the ground – whether by hand or the use of a machine such as a JCB – it is vital to establish whether there are underground services before you try to remove an inch of soil.
To assist with doing this there are two main tools, the CAT and Genny (Signal Generator). Used in combination, they can locate a very large percentage of underground services, although even then they can miss some for a variety of reasons.
There are companies who provide what is called a CAT course which covers not just the basics of how to use the CAT and the Genny for location of underground services, but how to use them working together, and also the limitations that they have. And they do have certain limitations.
If you are not aware of the limitations, you could hit an underground service by digging in an area that you thought was free of them. That is why a CAT course is essential for all engaged in the location of underground services.
Sygma Solutions 