Dig This: Las Vegas Tourist Attraction Morphs Into Operator Training Academy
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Dig This, a heavy equipment playground for Las Vegas tourists, recently held an entry-level heavy equipment operator training school. Called Dig This Academy, the training program is accredited by the Construction and Education Research Training Unit and all courses are state certified by the Nevada Commission on Post-Secondary Education. The program was held at Dig This Las Vegas’ existing five-acre campus.
“Dig This Las Vegas was excited to bring Dig This Academy to life,” said Ed Mumm, Dig This owner/founder. “With our existing location, facilities, diverse equipment fleet and access to additional equipment, we have the ideal site for a training school. And we are perfectly poised timing-wise considering the current and future demand for heavy equipment operators. Nowhere else in Nevada will you have access to this type of heavy equipment training. We look forward to preparing trainees for a rewarding and successful career in the construction industry.”
Journeyman operators facilitated the training using the established NCCER heavy equipment operator curriculums. Multiple courses were offered for excavators, dozers, backhoes and loaders. The one-week courses were designed to provide the basic fundamentals of equipment operation, safety and maintenance. Upon successful program completion, trainees had the knowledge and experience to enter the workforce as entry-level operators.
Pioneering the “super-sized sandbox” concept, Mumm opened the first Dig This location in 2007 in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. Dig This Las Vegas launched operations in May 2011 and moved to its current location in 2019. The facility allows non-industry guests the chance to experience the “thrill and rush of playing with massive hydraulic excavators and bulldozers” in a safe, supervised environment.
Dig This expanded globally in October 2017 becoming part of Bill Richardson Transport World in Invercargill, New Zealand.
For more information, visit https://digthisvegas.com/.
