While there are many festivals and events across the country, there is one that stands out – Dozer Day! Dozer Day will be held May 16-17, 2020, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Clark County Event Center at the Fairgrounds in Vancouver, Washington.

The Nutter Family Foundation is a non-profit organization that focuses on addressing the needs of children. The foundation believes that when children are provided with opportunities to develop their talents, society will thrive.

The primary annual event of the Nutter Foundation is Dozer Day. At Dozer Day children are put in the driver’s seat of heavy equipment used in the construction business as well as an ambulance, fire trucks, and other vehicles. During the activities, children learn about public safety, the construction of sustainable communities, and industry opportunities.

More About Dozer Day

Dozer Day is held annually, and it is a fundraising charitable event that strives to educate children about the opportunities that exist. It teaches attendees about real-world, important situations while ensuring they get experiences relating to construction by asking them to take the driver’s seat in heavy equipment, recycling trucks, ambulances, and fire trucks.

Besides putting the children in driver’s seats, they can participate in a variety of fun, educational activities.  Families are given the chance to interact with professionals from multiple industries and there will be redefining of stereotypes. It is a fun-filled family event.

Dozer Event Locations

Locations are spread out including Vancouver, Washington; Yakima, Washington; Seattle, Washington; Eastern Washington and Northern Idaho; Kansas City; and it is planned for Willamette Valley. The Nutter Family Foundation hopes to add some more locations across the country. To learn more about Dozer Day or to learn how to schedule an event in your community, visit www.dozerday.org.

We all know what bulldozers are, with their front shovel and heavy-duty tracks, it is always seen as a brute of a machine that is the muscle of the site, shifting large amounts of material where it is needed. However, a bulldozer can be found in other situations too, roadbuilding, demolition, and site preparation for construction projects, so what do they get up to in these different environments?

Bulldozers in construction

For any large construction site, the first heavy machinery on site is often the bulldozers. While we associate them with pushing large amounts of material around, they can be used in a much more precise way when required. Preparing a site for construction, by skimming away a layer of topsoil or debris, and removing plantation and weeds to allow foundations, channels, and so on to be marked out accurately is an important part of the construction process. Bulldozers are the perfect tool for this, with precise control allowing operators to take just enough of the topsoil away as required, while their impressive ability to move material is great for clearing even the heaviest of rubble away.

Roadbuilding

An important part of the construction industry, roads are constantly being built or resurfaced around the country, and on any project, you will find the bulldozer. Here bulldozers perform two tasks, firstly, removing the topsoil so that a road can be built, because a road needs solid foundations to be effective. But a bulldozer is also used after the foundation, the gravel and fill that makes up the roadbed, has been dropped in place. Here, the bulldozer is used to smooth the surface ready for the top coat of asphalt or other material, so really is an important part of the road-building process.

Demolition

Bulldozers are made in a variety of sizes, and you often find the larger ones involved in demolition. A large bulldozer is quite capable of demolishing a house, saving the time and safety concerns that come with taking it apart piece by piece manually, and of course, bulldozers are also very good at removing the resulting rubble when the site needs clearing.

Earthmoving

Whether at mines, construction sites, or other projects, moving large amounts of material is what the bulldozer was built to do, and it does this very well. Bulldozers use tracks that provide excellent grip in all conditions along with a powerful motor to push sparingly heavy loads, and it can quickly move substantial amounts of material wherever it is required.

It is easy to forget that bulldozers are capable of carrying out much more than just earthmoving, and for bulldozer operators, there are always new jobs and industries looking for their skills to further their careers. When looking for a career in heavy equipment, a bulldozer operator is definitely a great choice and a fantastic opportunity.

Bulldozer training is one of the most important things you can do for your career. If you want a long and successful career as a heavy equipment operator, then the bulldozer is one of the essential pieces of machinery to learn how to handle.

So what do you learn in bulldozer training?

10 Types of Equipment You’ll Learn to Operate

At ATS Heavy Equipment School, we take training on all types of heavy equipment real seriously. That’s why we incorporate training for all of these pieces of machinery into the bulldozer training we offer:

• Bulldozers (obviously)
• Backhoes
• Excavators
• Front End Loaders
• Skid Steer Loaders
• Wheel Loaders
• Scrapers
• Graders
• All-Terrain Forklifts
• Off-Road Haul Trucks

When you graduate our bulldozer training classes, you’ll be fully versed in how to operate each piece of equipment, and that includes the proper safety procedures for operations on the work site.

You’ll Also Learn the Basic Operations of Work Site Maintenance

Of course, there is a lot more to handling heavy equipment than simply maneuvering and safety. On the work site, you’ll need to understand a few other things in order to be effective in bulldozer operations. Our instructors will also teach you:

• How to read grades
• Identifying soil
• Determining work site layout
• Worksite safety procedures
• Heavy equipment maintenance
• Laser levels

These skills will come in handy when and if you ever advance to management or take on a supervisory role on the work site (and we hope you do). With these skills, you’ll learn to operate and grow to become a productive contributor to any heavy equipment work site.

Safety while operating a bulldozer is very important because it is such a powerful machine that serious injury and death are real probabilities when something goes wrong.

1. only qualified operators should be on a bulldozer
2. seatbelts should always be used
3. operators must follow proper lockout, blockout, and tagout procedures
4. flaggers must be assigned where signs and barricades cannot control traffic
5. bulldozers should be kept away from overhead power lines and water mains
6. warning devices must be heard through the entire worksite
7. shut off engine when refueling
8. bulldozer must have rollover protection structures
9. if there isn’t a specified hand or foot hold, don’t climb there
10. know what will be potentially hazardous, like structures that are taller than the machine and can collapse 
11. use proper systems and procedures to secure unattended bulldozers from movement
12. never use a bulldozer that has not been inspected pre-shift — fluid levels, brakes, signals, etc.
13. be aware of changes on the work site that will affect safety, excavations, etc.
14. no passengers. Period
15. always park on level ground

Just about every accident on a bulldozer is the result of someone ignoring safety precautions. Sometimes they do it because nothing happened the last time, or they think they can control a situation. You’ll run into some operators who refuse to wear safety belts, for instance, because they think they can jump off if the machine tips — those are the guys who go flying wildly off the seat instead. The result is not good.

When you become certified at ATS Heavy Equipment Operator Training School, you are taught the reasons behind the rules, and understand what you are doing when you get into the seat of a bulldozer or any other machinery we train you on. That’s why our graduates are sought out by employers who want qualified operators on the job.

I could be glib and tell you to sign up for one of our heavy equipment training programs. Of course, becoming a bulldozer operator is not quite as easy as that. Mind you, it’s not all that difficult either. Let’s have a look at the steps required:

• Desire – you have to have a desire to work as a bulldozer operator. You’re here reading this so that is a start.
• Training – you will never get any job these days without some form of training. Completing a heavy equipment operator course only takes three weeks so the training commitment is not huge.
• Experience – experience has two components – in the cab and on the job. Your training provider should give you as much experience as possible inside the cab. On completion of your training you should look around to see what on the job experience you can get.
• Employment – once you have completed your training and gained some experience you can call yourself a bulldozer operator and gain employment wherever opportunities exist.

There are many employers around who will let you gain your experience whilst employed as full-fledged bulldozer operators. There are other operators who may take you on for a trial period allowing you to gain some experience in the type of work they do. If you are up to it they will then take you on permanently.

ATS Heavy Equipment Operator Schools have a good reputation for producing well trained heavy equipment operators. We also have a job placement service to help you find that first job. Becoming a bulldozer operator is not that difficult – you just need the desire and to then sign up for one of our heavy equipment training courses.

The popularity of heavy equipment careers seems to come in waves – this could be an economic led effect or perhaps an effect brought on by publicity when heavy equipment labor shortages appear. We are currently in a situation where we have both of these effects – an economy that is coming out of a recession and a shortage of heavy equipment operators.

When considering a career as a heavy equipment operator, most people focus on one piece of equipment. You will often hear someone say, “I want to drive a bulldozer”; or “I want to drive a crane”. I can’t help having a little chuckle when I hear the words “I want to drive”. Sure, you do drive trucks and there is an element of driving when it comes to most heavy equipment – but driving is such a small component. The question I always ask is, why are you limiting yourself to a bulldozer?

Heavy equipment careers span a very wide range of machinery and in many cases skills are transferable between machinery. If you can operate an excavator and a front-end loader then you can operate a backhoe – and vice-versa. For this reason, I recommend learning to operate a variety of machinery.

For you, the operator, it makes you far more employable, since you can apply for a wider variety of positions. For an employer, you are far more attractive since you offer employees the flexibility of using your abilities where and when required – this is particularly useful if you are called upon to complete a job where the current operator is ill or injured.

What are the options in heavy equipment careers? There is no limit. Check out any decent heavy equipment training program and they should offer you training on a variety of machinery. Gain as much experience as you can and the sky is the limit.