ITAtech and ITA-CET are both committees within the large ITA family and focus on varied topics related to the construction and operation of underground infrastructures.

The goal of the ITAtech committee is to promote new and state-of-the-art construction technologies and methods for the sustainable development of underground space.

ITAtech members are prime sponsors and supporters. The committee is organized into activity groups which cover all processes related to underground construction, such as Investigation, Excavation, Support, Lining and waterproofing, Installation and interior works, Monitoring, Rehabilitation and Design. The activity groups develop technical ideas and concepts based on emerging technologies for future use in underground construction.

One of the first outputs of the ITAtech Committee is the document entitled “Design Guidance for Spray-applied Waterproofing Membranes”. Within this document the urgent need for training and certification is highlighted.

The ITA-CET Committee ensures the quality of the training and education activities through a careful selection and endorsement of speakers and lectures. It works in collaboration with the ITA CET Foundation, which takes care of all organizational aspects of training sessions. The ITA-CET Committee is organized into Activity Groups and Activity Group 2 promotes an education and training concept which takes into account existing national and regional training centres and provides a scheme for mutual recognition of training courses based on common standards. These standards can be defined by ITAtech activity groups.

The first ITA-CET endorsement for the certification of blue collar workers is granted to the EFNARC nozzle-man certification scheme (please visit www.efnarc.org). EFNARC, an independent organization, has developed this certification scheme.

The ITA-CET endorsement for training and certification refers to:

 - The certification body

o    Independent organization

o    Established organization

 - The certification process

o    Confidentiality

o    Documentation, traceability,

o    Defined and reliable process

o    Duration of the theoretical and practical part.

This nozzle-man certification scheme has now been running for several years. The process is acknowledged in the underground construction industry and all parties involved (owners, designers, contractors) are increasingly demanding only certified nozzle-men for their construction sites.