Heavy equipment safety has become an important issue and many states now insist on operators having some form of safety training. Employers themselves are now starting to see the worth of safety training. Consider the two sides of the issue. Accidents mean stoppages, injuries, inquiries, possibly fines, and the job finishing behind schedule. No accidents means – well, the opposite. No injuries, no inquires, no stoppages, a happier workplace and jobs finishing ahead of schedule.

Southern Industrial Constructors are a classic example. They have just celebrated a full year with zero accidents in the workplace. You may think “so what?.” However, consider this: they employ 750 employees at sites spread around the country. This means safety is a prime concern, not in one place, but in multiple places. As one of the nation’s biggest employers of construction workers and heavy equipment operators, this is a record to be proud of.

How have they managed to achieve this record? Safety training, including ongoing training on a regular basis, has formed an important part of their safety platform. Workers are rewarded for working within safety guidelines. More importantly, using crane operators as an example:

(…source)The company advocates nationally for industry safety standards requiring its crane operators to be certified by the National Commission for the Certification of Crane Operators (NCCCO).

ATS Heavy Equipment Operator Schools along with ATS Crane Operator Schools have long promoted safety in the workplace. All nationally accredited training includes safety components as laid down by the relevant national bodies for each equipment type. For our crane operators, we offer training that has been accredited and graduates can be assessed at our training centers for accreditation by the NCCCO. Heavy equipment safety training is helping to reduce workplace accidents – just ask Southern Industrial Constructors.

Some people love them, some people hate them, but without a doubt our highways make traveling long distances quicker and easier. Every single highway had, at some stage, a grader or two working to prepare the way for the seal. In fact, graders have made the job of road building so much easier.

What most lay people don’t realize is that the grader is the one machine most responsible for ensuring our roads are flat and built at the right slope. This is important for water control in the wet (the water needs to be able to drain away quickly rather than just lie there) and for general road safety. Cambers on corners help to keep the car on the road.

Engineers of course have the task of designing our roads, designing the slopes and cambers, but it is the grader that is employed to deliver the results – all based on the plans put together by engineers. Grader operator training therefore needs to include training on how to read plans, and how to read soil types if the operator is going to be effective in their job.

At ATS Heavy Equipment Operator Schools we don’t just teach how to drive a grader, you are also trained on other aspects including reading plans, understanding soil types, workplace safety and basic maintenance procedures. As a graduate, you will have good general knowledge of your equipment and, of course, the skills required to actually operate the equipment.

Do you want to leave a permanent mark on society in one of the most helpful ways? Consider becoming a grader operator. Training only requires three weeks of your time and then you’re ready to hit the road!

Heavy equipment training is by no means cheap. I wouldn’t call it expensive either, at least not when you consider the rewards available at the end of your training. Financial aid is one of those areas that can be a stumbling block for many considering a career change. Yet, it shouldn’t be.

Training to operate heavy equipment generally only takes three weeks. This means you can complete your training and enter the lucrative trade fairly quickly. If you have borrowed money to undertake training, there is a good chance your new wage could quickly have that loan paid off.

Finance is an important consideration, but it is one that should be weighed up against several factors. The first of course is how quickly you can be in the workplace and earning. As already mentioned, training is only three weeks so time is not a problem. What about opportunities? There are plenty of opportunities around at present. Middle to late spring is one of the prime recruitment seasons for heavy equipment operators so vacancies should be on the increase.

The second factor to consider is the wage rate. Heavy equipment operators are well paid so there is a good chance your new wage could be considerably higher than your current wage. Working hours are good and the work itself, while often a challenge, is extremely satisfying.

Are you suited to this field? This is the third and most important question. You shouldn’t be paying (or borrowing) for a training program if your heart and soul is not in it. There is a good chance you won’t remain in the trade for long and every obstacle will become a huge negative. Those with a positive attitude see obstacles as another challenge to defeat – and they succeed as heavy equipment operators.

There is plenty of financial aid around at present including very competitive student loans. With a new career and a lucrative wage in hand, taking out a student loan shouldn’t be too much of a burden. Call us to discuss your situation and to find out what financial aid options are available for you.

Dump trucks are one of the busiest vehicles on any construction site. If they are not bringing in truck loads of building materials they are carting truck loads out. At times, they will do both, bringing in, say, a load of sand and then filling up with a load debris that needs to be removed.

The role of a dump truck driver is never boring. In fact, you are on the go almost all day. The only time you get to pause is when your truck is being filled. These days, that doesn’t take very long at all. There are many areas that utilize hoppers – you simply drive your truck under the hopper, the hopper is opened and within a minute you have a full load. At the construction site, loaders. backhoes and excavators can quickly fill a dump truck with material that needs carting away.

Career prospects for dump trucks are good with demand for drivers fairly steady all year round. The peak in demand around the middle to the end of spring as construction companies take on new drivers to help meet contract deadlines. Now is one of the best times to gain one’s qualifications as a dump truck driver since that recruitment drive for drivers will soon start in earnest.

ATS Truck Driver Schools can have you trained and ready for work in as little as three weeks. Dump truck driver training is undertaken using both in class and behind the wheel training sessions. Behind the wheel sessions involve you doing the driving, not watching someone else doing the driving. Every kid wants to be a dump truck driver when playing in their sand pit, but is the big kid in you still wanting to drive a dump truck in a real life sand pit?

As the weather starts to clear you will see more and more bulldozers hard at work on many of our back roads. Over winter, snow, ice and water sit on these back roads and are generally only accessible using off-road vehicles. Off-road vehicles tend to have larger tires with large tread patterns so you can imagine the effect they have as they grind snow, ice and mud against the road surfaces.

Once the weather has cleared – and the snow, ice and water has gone – these back roads are almost impassable due to the large pot holes that have been gouged into the roads. Bulldozers are often called in to start the repair processes. They carve out the rough patches of road ready for either a repair crew to resurface the road or for gravel, which the bulldozer then spreads over the surface.

Bulldozer operators are always in high demand at this time of the year. They are normally the first heavy equipment operators called into any construction area as they prepare the way for new buildings or new roads. Because of this demand, it is also a great opportunity for those who are looking to start a career as bulldozer operators.

By undertaking your heavy equipment operator training through ATS Heavy Equipment Operator Schools you are giving yourself the best advantage possible in starting this career. Training only takes three weeks so you are ready to snap up any opportunities that arise. ATS has an excellent record when it comes to producing skilled operators. Future employers will often show preference for our graduates over those from other training schools. If you’re ready for a career operating bulldozers, give yourself the ATS advantage and contact us now for details on the next training course in your area.

Cranes are not all made the same with some requiring more skills than others. The lattice boom crane is one crane that requires extended crane operator training to achieve a proficiency ready for the workplace. Training for the lattice boom crane is a recent addition to the ATS training calendar and is only available through our training centers in Wisconsin, New Hampshire, Texas and California.

Standard crane operator training through ATS Crane Operator Schools is a three week nationally accredited program. Upon completion, graduates can be assessed against the national competencies for crane operators and, if successful, certified as crane operators. This certification is a national qualification, which means holders are eligible for employment in all states, particularly those where certification of crane operators is mandatory.

Lattice boom crane operator training is a two week extension to the standard crane operator training. This training is conducted every three months and upon completion, graduates can be assessed and certified as qualified lattice boom crane operators. Lattice boom crane operators are well paid compared to many other areas of the work place including mobile crane operators.

If a career as a crane operator appeals to you, why not contact ATS Crane Operator Schools to discuss your training and employment opportunities. Crane operators are always in high demand with skilled operators rarely out of work. Once you have graduated and been certified, our career service can help you identify suitable employers in your region where employment opportunities may exist. The demand is there for crane operators – are you capable of filling that demand? Call us to find out.

I think there are times when we underestimate the value of simple machinery like loaders. On the face of it, they have a limited range of tasks and most of those are related to carrying. They can’t dig very well, they are not really suited to any bulldozing and they can’t do a lot when it comes to demolition, except carry away the demolished material.

With that sort of description, who would want to operate one? In fact, who would want to undertake loader training? However, if you stop and think about what they can do, it’s a different story. A loader can move an awful lot of material in a very short time. Take loading sand into a truck. It would take at least 20 men at least an hour to load a pile of sand into a truck. In fact, getting it into the truck would be the difficult part. Perhaps they could use a couple of buckets tied to rope. The loader, of course, could move the pile in two or three scoops.

It’s not recommended these days, but in the past many tradesman relied on the scoop to raise them high enough to perform special tasks. Cherry pickers or specialist hoists do the job these days. Loaders can also be used, in a limited way, to level out the ground. This is done by adding loose material with the scoop being used like a giant rake to level out the loose material.

Almost every building site has a loader of some shape and size, even if it’s just a compact loader. They are versatile when it comes to carrying and moving objects, whether it is loose material like sand and dirt or solid material like rock and concrete. They are also useful for moving hardware like pipes, steel or timber and any other object that will fit into its scoop.

Loader operators are always in demand, which is fortunate since loaders can also be one of the easiest ways into the heavy equipment industry. ATS Heavy Equipment Operator Schools can have you qualified and in the operator seat of a loader in just three weeks. Call us and find out how.

Are you sitting at home wondering where your next job is going to come from? Have you considered undertaking a few weeks training to learn new skills? If you haven’t then maybe it’s time you did because it only takes three weeks to learn the skills required to become a backhoe operator. In fact, it only takes three weeks to acquire the skills to operate most forms of heavy equipment.

ATS Heavy Equipment Operator Schools are one of the most respected heavy equipment schools around, having supplied the construction industry with literally thousands of new recruits. Our graduates are noted for being skilled and ready for employment through training that is accredited to national standards.

Now all that sounds like one big ad doesn’t it? Yet, it’s all true. Let’s take a step back.

The construction industry has been on the crest of a wave over the last 12 months thanks to the injection of massive amounts of money by the Federal Government. This funding is going into basic infrastructure programs like roads, bridges and schools. More importantly, it has created a lot of new jobs across the board including heavy equipment. Backhoe operators have been particularly blessed with plenty of work because of the versatility of their equipment.

On the flip side of the coin, there are many hard working Americans who are now out of work, simply because the economist and the bankers got it all wrong. If you are one of them (hard working American that is, not an economist or banker) then you can get your working life back on track by taking on a career as a backhoe operator. These jobs are well paid with good work conditions and a terrific camaraderie. Just be sure you gain your heavy equipment training through an accredited, well-respected heavy equipment training company. Call us and reclaim your career – it only takes three weeks.

There has been a lot of talk recently about how the construction industry has held together despite the recession. In fact, the recession has probably helped it out considering all the money that has been thrown into thousands of programs around the country. The silent winners have been the truck drivers.

Truck driving is one of those skills and qualifications that a lot of people take for granted. Yet, without truck drivers, the heavy equipment required for these projects would still be sitting idle in the contractor’s yards. It’s not just the heavy equipment either. These projects require building materials and often need to have rock and debris removed before work can start.

Work as a truck driver covers a broad spectrum of jobs. You could be a heavy equipment hauler; perhaps a dump truck driver; or a truck delivering building materials. These are all jobs that are essential to any construction project thus making truck drivers valuable members of any construction team.

Learning to become a truck driver is not difficult. It only takes a few weeks and you have the skills required. The hardest component is passing the test to qualify for a commercial drivers license. Pass this test and you’re officially a truck driver. It is then up to you to decide in which area you want to specialize.

ATS has been teaching people to drive trucks for over 25 years. We have a great track record for delivering truck driver training that enables most students to qualify for their CDL at their first attempt. Are you a truck driver in the making? The nation’s heavy equipment needs people with good truck driving skills to move that equipment from job to job.

One of the more commonly seen yet unusual uses of an excavator is on the back of a barge helping to dredge the floor of a river. They are more common than people realize with many excavators permanently attached to the barge – that is their life’s work. For an operator, it can be one of those ‘cushy’ jobs.

Sitting on barges, the excavator’s role is no different than digging a trench on land, the only difference being the trench is under water. The mud is scooped up and dumped into another barge, the water-based version of a dump truck. The work is relatively easy with the biggest danger being bridges and underwater cables.

Despite being an easy job, they are hard to come by since they can be very popular amongst operators. The skills required to operate a barge-mounted excavator are no different than those required to operate a land-based excavator. Standard heavy equipment operator training is all that you require together with a reasonable amount of experience.

If you are considering a career as an excavator operator then you will be entering a field that can be interesting and varied. Excavators are no longer restricted to just digging trenches; they operate in a wide range of environments including my favorite, demolition. ATS Heavy Equipment Operator Schools offer a comprehensive training course that prepares graduates for work in a variety of fields. Our training is accredited and recognized nationally. This means your training credentials qualify you for employment as a heavy equipment operator across the country. If this sounds like a career for you, contact us now to discuss your training options.