Earth Drillers, Except Oil and Ga Operate a variety of drills such as rotary, churn, and pneumatic to tap subsurface water and salt deposits, to remove core samples during mineral exploration or soil testing, and to facilitate the use of explosives in mining or construction. Includes horizontal and earth boring machine operators.
Earth Drillers, Except Oil and Ga is Also Know as
In different settings, Earth Drillers, Except Oil and Ga is titled as
- Blast Hole Driller
- Diamond Driller
- Drill Operator
- Driller
- Hard Rock Drill Operator
- Highwall Drill Operator
- Rock Drill Operator
- Underground Drill Operator
- Water Well Driller
- Well Driller
Education and Training of Earth Drillers, Except Oil and Ga
Earth Drillers, Except Oil and Ga is categorized in Job Zone Two: Some Preparation Needed
Experience Required for Earth Drillers, Except Oil and Ga
Some previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is usually needed. For example, a teller would benefit from experience working directly with the public.
Education Required for Earth Drillers, Except Oil and Ga
These occupations usually require a high school diploma.
Degrees Related to Earth Drillers, Except Oil and Ga
- Bachelor in Well Drilling/Driller
- Associate Degree Courses in Well Drilling/Driller
- Masters Degree Courses in Well Drilling/Driller
- Bachelor in Construction/Heavy Equipment/Earthmoving Equipment
- Associate Degree Courses in Construction/Heavy Equipment/Earthmoving Equipment
- Masters Degree Courses in Construction/Heavy Equipment/Earthmoving Equipment
Training Required for Earth Drillers, Except Oil and Ga
Employees in these occupations need anywhere from a few months to one year of working with experienced employees. A recognized apprenticeship program may be associated with these occupations.
Related Ocuupations
Some Ocuupations related to Earth Drillers, Except Oil and Ga in different industries are
- Rotary Drill Operators, Oil and Gas
- Helpers--Extraction Workers
- Drilling and Boring Machine Tool Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
- Continuous Mining Machine Operators
- Explosives Workers, Ordnance Handling Experts, and Blasters
- Operating Engineers and Other Construction Equipment Operators
- Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operators, Surface Mining
- Roustabouts, Oil and Gas
- Construction Laborers
- Service Unit Operators, Oil and Gas
- Grinding and Polishing Workers, Hand
- Hoist and Winch Operators
- Pile Driver Operators
- Maintenance Workers, Machinery
- Woodworking Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Except Sawing
- Milling and Planing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic
- Tool Grinders, Filers, and Sharpeners
- Welding, Soldering, and Brazing Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders
- Rail-Track Laying and Maintenance Equipment Operators
- Paving, Surfacing, and Tamping Equipment Operators
What Do Earth Drillers, Except Oil and Ga do?
- Regulate air pressure, rotary speed, and downward pressure, according to the type of rock or concrete being drilled.
- Verify depths and alignments of boring positions.
- Start, stop, and control drilling speed of machines and insertion of casings into holes.
- Select the appropriate drill for the job, using knowledge of rock or soil conditions.
- Operate controls to stabilize machines and to position and align drills.
- Select and attach drill bits and drill rods, adding more rods as hole depths increase, and changing drill bits as needed.
- Drill or bore holes in rock for blasting, grouting, anchoring, or building foundations.
- Operate machines to flush earth cuttings or to blow dust from holes.
- Drive or guide truck-mounted equipment into position, level and stabilize rigs, and extend telescoping derricks.
- Perform routine maintenance and upgrade work on machines and equipment, such as replacing parts, building up drill bits, and lubricating machinery.
- Drive trucks, tractors, or truck-mounted drills to and from work sites.
- Record drilling progress and geological data.
- Retrieve lost equipment from bore holes, using retrieval tools and equipment.
- Assemble and position machines, augers, casing pipes, and other equipment, using hand and power tools.
- Pour water into wells, or pump water or slush into wells to cool drill bits and to remove drillings.
- Operate water-well drilling rigs and other equipment to drill, bore, and dig for water wells or for environmental assessment purposes.
- Perform pumping tests to assess well performance.
- Document geological formations encountered during work.
- Withdraw drill rods from holes, and extract core samples.
- Retract augers to force discharge dirt from holes.
- Place and install screens, casings, pumps, and other well fixtures to develop wells.
- Design well pumping systems.
- Disinfect, reconstruct, and redevelop contaminated wells and water pumping systems, and clean and disinfect new wells in preparation for use.
- Review client requirements and proposed locations for drilling operations to determine feasibility, and to determine cost estimates.
- Observe electronic graph recorders and flow meters that monitor the water used to flush debris from holes.
- Signal crane operators to move equipment.
- Inspect core samples to determine nature of strata, or take samples to laboratories for analysis.
- Fabricate well casings.
- Create and lay out designs for drill and blast patterns.
- Monitor drilling operations, by checking gauges and listening to equipment to assess drilling conditions and to determine the need to adjust drilling or alter equipment.
Qualities of Good Earth Drillers, Except Oil and Ga
- Control Precision: The ability to quickly and repeatedly adjust the controls of a machine or a vehicle to exact positions.
- Arm-Hand Steadiness: The ability to keep your hand and arm steady while moving your arm or while holding your arm and hand in one position.
- Multilimb Coordination: The ability to coordinate two or more limbs (for example, two arms, two legs, or one leg and one arm) while sitting, standing, or lying down. It does not involve performing the activities while the whole body is in motion.
- Reaction Time: The ability to quickly respond (with the hand, finger, or foot) to a signal (sound, light, picture) when it appears.
- Manual Dexterity: The ability to quickly move your hand, your hand together with your arm, or your two hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects.
- Depth Perception: The ability to judge which of several objects is closer or farther away from you, or to judge the distance between you and an object.
- Rate Control: The ability to time your movements or the movement of a piece of equipment in anticipation of changes in the speed and/or direction of a moving object or scene.
- Near Vision: The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
- Perceptual Speed: The ability to quickly and accurately compare similarities and differences among sets of letters, numbers, objects, pictures, or patterns. The things to be compared may be presented at the same time or one after the other. This ability also includes comparing a presented object with a remembered object.
- Far Vision: The ability to see details at a distance.
- Visualization: The ability to imagine how something will look after it is moved around or when its parts are moved or rearranged.
- Information Ordering: The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
- Deductive Reasoning: The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
- Problem Sensitivity: The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
- Hearing Sensitivity: The ability to detect or tell the differences between sounds that vary in pitch and loudness.
- Oral Comprehension: The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
- Visual Color Discrimination: The ability to match or detect differences between colors, including shades of color and brightness.
- Inductive Reasoning: The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
- Finger Dexterity: The ability to make precisely coordinated movements of the fingers of one or both hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble very small objects.
- Written Comprehension: The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
- Auditory Attention: The ability to focus on a single source of sound in the presence of other distracting sounds.
- Speech Clarity: The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
- Selective Attention: The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
- Oral Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
- Written Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
- Flexibility of Closure: The ability to identify or detect a known pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden in other distracting material.
- Response Orientation: The ability to choose quickly between two or more movements in response to two or more different signals (lights, sounds, pictures). It includes the speed with which the correct response is started with the hand, foot, or other body part.
- Time Sharing: The ability to shift back and forth between two or more activities or sources of information (such as speech, sounds, touch, or other sources).
- Speech Recognition: The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
- Category Flexibility: The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
- Speed of Closure: The ability to quickly make sense of, combine, and organize information into meaningful patterns.
- Fluency of Ideas: The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
- Spatial Orientation: The ability to know your location in relation to the environment or to know where other objects are in relation to you.
- Trunk Strength: The ability to use your abdominal and lower back muscles to support part of the body repeatedly or continuously over time without "giving out" or fatiguing.
- Static Strength: The ability to exert maximum muscle force to lift, push, pull, or carry objects.
- Glare Sensitivity: The ability to see objects in the presence of a glare or bright lighting.
- Originality: The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
- Extent Flexibility: The ability to bend, stretch, twist, or reach with your body, arms, and/or legs.
- Gross Body Equilibrium: The ability to keep or regain your body balance or stay upright when in an unstable position.
- Mathematical Reasoning: The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem.
- Wrist-Finger Speed: The ability to make fast, simple, repeated movements of the fingers, hands, and wrists.
- Stamina: The ability to exert yourself physically over long periods of time without getting winded or out of breath.
- Memorization: The ability to remember information such as words, numbers, pictures, and procedures.
- Number Facility: The ability to add, subtract, multiply, or divide quickly and correctly.
- Night Vision: The ability to see under low-light conditions.
- Peripheral Vision: The ability to see objects or movement of objects to one's side when the eyes are looking ahead.
- Sound Localization: The ability to tell the direction from which a sound originated.
- Dynamic Strength: The ability to exert muscle force repeatedly or continuously over time. This involves muscular endurance and resistance to muscle fatigue.
- Explosive Strength: The ability to use short bursts of muscle force to propel oneself (as in jumping or sprinting), or to throw an object.
- Gross Body Coordination: The ability to coordinate the movement of your arms, legs, and torso together when the whole body is in motion.
- Speed of Limb Movement: The ability to quickly move the arms and legs.
- Dynamic Flexibility: The ability to quickly and repeatedly bend, stretch, twist, or reach out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
Tools Used by Earth Drillers, Except Oil and Ga
- Adjustable combination wrenches
- Air rotary drills
- Alternating current AC generators
- Backhoe-equipped tractors
- Bobcats
- Cable tool drills
- Chain slings
- Core drill rigs
- Desanders
- Digital video cameras
- Downhole hammers
- Downhole well testing equipment
- Drill pipe tongs
- Drilling collars
- Earth drilling machines
- Field forklifts
- Global positioning system GPS receivers
- Grout pumps
- Handheld remote thermometers
- Laptop computers
- Lube guns
- Marsh funnels
- Mud balances
- Mud guns
- Mud mixers
- Mud pumping equipment
- Mud rotary drills
- Personal computers
- Pipe retrieval fishing tools
- Portable air compressors
- Power augers
- Precision levels
- Rotary drilling tools
- Shale shakers
- Submerged arc welding tools
- Tablet computers
- Trenchers
- Truck mounted cranes
- Truck-mounted water pumps
- Water level meters
- Water logging tools
- Water monitoring samplers
- Water sampling bailers
- Water test kits
- Work trucks
Technology Skills required for Earth Drillers, Except Oil and Ga
- Global positioning system GPS software
- Microsoft Excel
- Microsoft Office software
- Microsoft Word