Bulldozers are often considered the work horses on a construction site but it is the loader that has to transfer the looser material to trucks. Front-end loader with either wheels or tracks with the former type articulated for better handling. Loader don’t just load despite their name, they can dig and as well load material.

Front end loaders are can be found in a range of bucket sizes and operational weights. Don’t consider them as small machinery, many are quite large and very powerful and can be found on construction sites, road works, plant loading, shipping and mine face excavation.

Getting started as a frond end loader is not that difficult. The number one requirement these days is quality training followed closely by experience. However, you will never get the experience without having first completed the training.

Loader have a variety of different types of buckets, the common two being the scoop, a wide square bucket that tilts to capture the dirt or to dig out an area; and the clam shell type of bucket that opens to grab whatever you are working on in its jaws.

Related loaders include the bobcat, skid steer loader and the backhoe, a combination of a loader and an excavator. The skills required to operate a backhoe are simply those of a loader and those of an excavator. Basic training is often undertaken on wheel loader as this provides most of the skills required to operate all variations. Wheel loader training itself is generally a component of a larger heavy equipment training program. If your looking for a career as a loader operator, check ATS for the latest course information and start dates for wheel loader training.

Gaining a commercial drivers license (CDL) means more than just a piece of paper. It also involves more than just having a job. That CDL is a license to freedom, a license to explore, see new places and meet new people.

Being qualified to drive trucks can lead to interesting jobs driving trucks and trailers thousands of mile every week. You could have a run that takes you from home through to Mexico (or Canada), or from one coast to another. There is a lot of freight that arrives on the west coast that needs shipping to the east coast. Some businesses rely on rail – others rely on trucks. I am sure you have seen them on the highways – I am also sure you have probably asked yourself – where have they come from and/or where are they going?

Truck driving is more than a skill. In a tradition that probably goes back to the stagecoach days, drivers meet at certain places along the route. You know they say you can tell a good roadhouse by the number of trucks parked outside. Inside, there is real camaraderie amongst the drivers.

A commercial drivers license is not that difficult to obtain. Good quality truck driver training from a highly reputable training provider is the first step. Having belief and working hard during that training is also important. Finding employment to put your new found skills to work is the final step – we can even help in that area too.

Heavy equipment careers are there for the taking right now with the demand on operators steadily rising. What is interesting is the world wide shortage of qualified and experienced operators. Canada, New Zealand, Australia and the Middle East are all experiencing operator shortages and those vacancies are often being filled at our expense.

I should qualify the above statement by adding that overseas interest is only in qualified operators that have had several years experience in their respective industries. Not that I am trying to dampen your enthusiasm for travel. However, if you don’t undertake quality training you will never gain the experience required and the appropriate references to verify your experience.

More importantly, this drain of talent is opening doors for the next generation who are looking at heavy equipment careers. There has been an added demand on skilled workers with the economic recovery packages that have increased funding for roads and other infrastructure projects. Whilst each state or region has been able to work cooperatively to stagger starts dates for many projects – they haven’t been in a position to cooperate on a national level. This means every state is drawing on that pool of skilled heavy equipment operators.

Heavy equipment careers are taking off both here and abroad. If your interested in a career operating heavy equipment then now is the time to undertake your heavy equipment training. You can be in the operating cab and on your way to a lucrative career in as little as three weeks.

The one thing you can guarantee with all heavy equipment is that technology is constantly on the move and operating graders is no different. Every year manufacturers release their latest offerings and they always include technological changes of some sort.

Some of the latest technology includes computerization of some systems and GPS technology. Of course these are not ‘new’, however, the way they are being used is often new. GPS was fairly basic several years ago, it has now developed to the point that vehicles can have special devices fitted that help with loss prevention of heavy equipment.

The latest graders are now operated using joysticks rather than levers, pedals or a steering wheel. I am sure that many of our younger generation who have grown up with Xbox’s and the like would handle these with ease. For some of us older folk, a joystick is for flying, not grading – still, we have to move with the times or we will get left behind.

That philosophy is a must in heavy equipment operations now. Operating graders along with many of the other machines used has become one non-stop learning curve. You no sooner think you have your machine mastered when along comes a new piece of technology. At least you don’t have to learn it until it is either fitted, or a new machine us purchased.

Training to operate road graders has come along way in recent years. As technology has improved so too has the training methods used. It is no longer a case of jumping in and teaching yourself, the job is too complex for that now. To be competitive in the employment market you need quality training from a organization that has a long reputation for providing well trained operators of road graders. Just remember, your learning doesn’t end with the completion of your course – it ongoing for the rest of your working career.

Financial aid comes in many formats, one being that of a career loan. There are many financial institutions that approve career loans, but what are they exactly?SallieMae has a good definition for their career loans:

The Career Training Loan is a private, credit-based student loan for technical training or trade school, online courses, and other education programs.

Now that is fairly broad. It’s a loan so you would assume it is credit based. The type of training providing under a career loan is fairly broad as well. SallieMae goes on to say:

The institution you are attending must be licensed or accredited by the department of education in the states where they do business.

Now you have a more definitive answer. It is not so much the type of training you do as it is who provides the training. If the training organization is licensed in the state where you are going to do the training then there is a reasonable assumption that a career loan could be available. There are of course other factors such as credit worthiness to be taken into consideration.

To put this into some sort of perspective, ATS Heavy Equipment Operator Schools is registered in 18 states. They are also currently certified as an eligible training provider under the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) in most states.

If you are seeking a career loan for heavy equipment training, your first step should be to talk to one of the staff members at ATS Heavy Equipment Operator Schools. Alternatively, you could fill in one of their online financial assistance for heavy equipment training application forms.

The need for quality crane operator training has become important in recent years. It seems that 2008 was one of the worst years on record when it comes to crane accidents. However, it could have been worse. A recent story on CraneBlogger highlights the need for well trained operators, operators who work closely with their equipment and can almost sense when something is wrong.

Can you imagine sitting in a crane over 33 floors up, and having that crane topple over the side? It has happened in the past, hopefully it won’t into the future, yet for one operator, that was almost the story. Here is what happened:

The crane operator had an unloaded hook. He’s running the crane when he hears a loud bang and feels movement from what feels like the tower. He stops to assess what has caused it.

I won’t go into all the details of what was wrong. What was important is that the operator was aware of what was normal and what wasn’t. Let’s face it, on a construction site there is a lot of noise. A lot of banging, a lot of shouting and the sound of power tools everywhere. This operator heard a loud bang. I would suggest that as well as ‘hearing’ the bang, he also ‘felt’ the bang. And he stopped.

That last is the most important. He stopped, got out and went and had a look. From the story, it seems he couldn’t readily see any problems. That didn’t stop him reporting it and getting an engineer in to check. Fortunately, for him, he did. It appears the crane was effectively standing on only three legs and could have gone over the side at any time.

It is only through quality crane operator training that individuals can be prepared to work safely on construction sites. Whilst safety is always a prime concern, one of the best safety factors around is the knowledge an operator builds of their equipment. This is almost like having a sixth sense. As an operator, you are at one with the machine and can feel immediately when something starts to wrong. Get the best in crane operator training and you are well on the road to a safe working career.

What do dump trucks, bulldozers and beaches have to do with each other? Every year our coastline is ravaged by storms. Some areas are hit harder than others resulting in tons of beach sand being washed out to sea. Our beaches are popular recreation areas and with no sand, these beaches looks fairly uninviting to say the least. Add to this the fact that many communities rely on the summer beach trade for their survival, you will understand why we do everything possible to prevent these occurrences, and when they do happen, we get in and fix them.

How do we fix them? There is only one way. Fleets of dump trucks ferry in tons of sand and the bulldozers get to work spreading that sand over the area that has been stripped. It can be an incredible site. One day there is wonderful playground – the sand, the sun and the surf. Along comes a storm and all you are left with is a barren strip of coastline that is rocky and totally unusable. Bring in the dump trucks and bulldozers, and before the weekend arrives, the beach is back to its glorious self.

There is a lot of job satisfaction in not only seeing the beach restored, but being able to once again use it. Fortunately, it doesn’t happen that frequently to the one beach. However, every year there is a beach somewhere that needs some form of restoration.

This is just one example of the type of work that dump trucks and bulldozers undertake. There is no special dump truck driver training required – it fits within the scope of normal everyday work. The same is true of the bulldozer operators – they don’t require any special bulldozer operator training – it fits within the normal duties of a bulldozer operator.

You may not need specialist training, but when it comes to a tired old empty beach that has been stripped of her glory, dump trucks and bulldozers certainly know how to give her a fresh new face! You can guarantee there are thousands of families that are glad she is wearing a new face.

One of the most popular heavy equipment occupations is that of a bulldozer operator. In fact, it is one of the most widely used machines with uses ranging from farming and the farm gate to final factory processing. Along the way bulldozers are used to help construct roads and highways, clear land for factories and homes and in the demolition (or destruction) of old buildings and roads.

To be a successful bulldozer operator starts with an accredited training program that covers all the important areas of bulldozer operations. This includes safety, walk around maintenance inspections and, of course, hands on practical training in real world environments.

In the past, bulldozer training involved standing behind an operator for an hour or so then jumping in the hot seat and using the equipment with the trainer standing behind you. Once he considered you knew enough to do the current job, he left you to it. Safety training was nonexistent.

Bulldozer operators are expected to look after their equipment. This does not just mean careful use of the machine. Being constantly aware of how well your machine is performing is an important part of equipment maintenance with minor issues caught before they become major issues.

Road construction relies on bulldozers being able to quickly and efficiently clear an area ready for the road crews to start ‘building’ the road. This can often involve tearing up old sections of road so that a new base can be laid.

In effect, as a bulldozer operator, your job will start with the destruction of one road in order to construct a new one.

Bobcat loaders are the little relatives of skid steer loaders. They have become popular machines due to their ability to get into small areas. They do the same work as their larger loader relatives such as the front-end loader, just in miniature.

You will often find these machines buzzing around construction sites cleaning up once all the major construction work has been completed. I have seen them at work on demolition sites as well, taking part in the final clean up.

A story on Twitter was passed on to me yesterday and I must admit I hadn’t come across this situation before. Imagine demolishing a house using a bobcat loader – from the inside? I am not joking, you can read the story here.

In a nutshell, the operator, after a dispute with his neighbor, simply drove his bobcat loader into the house and started knocking the walls down. How he didn’t end up with the roof crashing down around his ears I don’t know – perhaps he knew a little about demolition work.

This is definitely a case of how not to operate a bobcat loader. They are expensive machines that are becoming very popular. Whilst they can and do work effectively on demolition sites, the heavy part is normally left to the larger heavy equipment. It certainly sounds like the ultimate way of seeking revenge.

Loader training will provide you with the skills required to operate skill steer loaders and bobcat loaders, however, before deciding to demolish a home, make sure the home owner gives their permission first.

Backhoes have one major advantage over most other heavy equipment. After they have finished digging a hole, they can turn around and use their scoop to clean up the mess they have made. Bulldozers can move mountains, but they still need a loader to load the unwanted material onto trucks.

Excavators can at least dig a hole and deposit the material straight into a truck. However, it can be a slow process considering how much a bucket holds compared to a scoop. For the backhoe, it can dig a trench as long as necessary, help to lower the pipes, for example, into that trench then use the scoop to back fill the trench before loading the leftover material straight into a truck. The complete all-in-one package.

Many operators shun backhoes considering them to be the babies of the heavy equipment fleet. They are often smaller in size than some of the other machines in use, however, don’t be fooled. There are some decent sized backhoes around as well. In fact, the skills required to operate a backhoe encompass several machines.

To operate a backhoe effectively, you require the skills of an excavator operator together with those of a loader operator. It also helps to have a little knowledge of crane operations as well. Of course, this all depends on what attachments have been added.

If you are looking at a career as either an excavator or loader operator then you may want to consider combining both skills to become a backhoe operator. You can still operate an excavator or loader whilst having the backup skills for the backhoe. For most training institutions, backhoe operator training is undertaken as part of a broader heavy equipment training program. It makes sense these days to multi-skill – you will always be employable then.