Think excavators and you probably think ditches. However, the modern excavator does far more than just dig ditches. You will find excavators at work on rivers doing dredging work, in forestry plantations, in the mining industry, in road and rail construction and in general construction. Wherever there is earth moving involved, you’re likely to find an excavator or it’s cousin, the backhoe.

Excavator training is not really a difficult course to get through. They may look like technically complex machines, and from an engineering point of view, they are. From an operators point of view, operating an excavator is only a matter of learning what the levers and pedals actually do – get a grasp of that and you’re halfway there. Of course, you also need to learn other components such as safety, basic maintenance and how an excavator performs in different soil types.

It only takes three weeks to complete a heavy equipment training program that includes excavator operator training. At the completion of the three weeks of training, you should be proficient in a number of machines including bulldozers, graders, loaders and excavators. Once you have completed your training, the most important part of your career begins – on-the-job training – and that lasts a lifetime.

Does operating an excavator sound like a career for you? If so, contact ATS Heavy Equipment Operator Schools for details on our next training course and the location of the nearest training school to you. Excavator operators are well paid in today’s workforce and their careers are interesting and involve a lot of variety – the one thing you won’t be doing is digging ditches all the time.

If I was asked which careers offered the best long term opportunities I would have to point to the transport sector. No matter how tough times are, we still eat and we still consume and that requires transport. The alternative is that we all learn to grow our own food – and, realistically, most people wouldn’t know where to start so we have farmers do it for us. With transport comes the second requirement – road and rail. So where do dump trucks come in?

Although roads are one of the mainstays of the transport system, when times are really tough, new construction slows a little. Instead, we repair what’s already in place. If you take the time to watch repair crews, they always consist of one or more dump trucks, even if it’s just to carry the mix used to repair roads. In fact, if you look around you, dump trucks always seem to be on our roads either carting material away or bringing in materials.

Dump truck training is a little more specialized than just truck driver training. Reversing a large dump truck can be difficult, especially if you have a pit or pit face that you have to tip your load over. A foot too far and the whole truck’s in the pit – a foot too far away and you’re dumping the load on the edge and not over the edge. Dump truck drivers also have to learn the art of slowly dumping material while driving – this helps to spread the load rather than dumping it all in the one spot and relying on another vehicle to do the spreading.

If you’re after a career that is always in demand, consider a career as a dump truck driver. You will always be busy – and the pay checks are not too bad either.

We live in a world where there seems to be an ever increasing rate of government interference in the work place. While taxes and the like often make the news, other areas such as workplace safety rarely do until there is an accident – then it’s front page. Work sites that go 200-300 days without an incident are rarely reported – yet that is often the norm. Government regulations now have fairly explicit safety requirements – and one of these requirements involves training.

Heavy equipment safety training covers a broad range of workplace activities. Training generally includes safety inspections of the equipment prior to use; awareness of others and property around the area to be worked in; awareness of objects such as power lines; and safe working procedures. Personal areas looked at may include drug and alcohol use and workplaces and working attitudes. Gone are the days when wild mavericks could roar into a work site, almost shoulder everyone aside as they completed their work, then roar out again. Working as a team is now an important issue as is working to plans – accurately.

If you are considering a career as a heavy equipment operator, be sure your training includes, at the very least, the basic requirements for workplace safety. Employers don’t really want to employ an individual if the employment process includes having to train the new recruit in safety procedures. Employers now expect a certain level of knowledge before engaging heavy equipment operators. Are you work safe?

Bulldozer training – you can actually find bulldozer training facilities all over the place. Some training schools are better than others, but then that’s true of every industry across the nation. If you are looking to enter the heavy equipment industry there are several things to beware of.

Mavericks – check the credentials of anyone who offers to provide training on heavy equipment like bulldozers. Because of the popularity of the industry at present, operators and former operators often sell themselves as heavy equipment trainers. They can be expensive, especially if you have to hire the equipment to undertake training. Good training operators have their own range of equipment and properly set up training schools – not some out of the way empty paddock.

Bad Habits – poorly trained individuals often pick up bad habits from their trainers. Employers will soon spot those bad habits and, if short cuts and safety become issues, soon show you the door. Your training should be setting good habits from day one.

False Paperwork – it’s nothing short of fraud, but by the time you find out they have gone (and so has your money). Again, it comes back to checking on the credentials of your training school.

The easy solution is to find a heavy equipment training provider that has been around for a long time. They are recognized within the industry, have a proven track record that can easily be verified (just talk to potential employers), and provide you with recognized paper work at the conclusion of your training. Heavy equipment training is not ‘cheap’ – if it is there is something wrong with the training. There is a strong demand for bulldozer operators at present – be sure your training is delivered by a training school that will help you into the workplace, not one that will teach you bad habits and keep you out of the industry.

For many, a backhoe is weird look vehicle that has a bucket at one end and a scoop at the other. The bucket digs trenches like an excavator does while the scoop acts in pretty much the same manner as a traditional loader. In reality, operating a backhoe is far more complex. When it comes to buckets, there are a range of sizes that are interchangeable. This can range from a narrow 12 inch wide bucket to a fairly decent 40 inches – but interchangeable buckets are just the start.

The range of attachments is fairly broad. In fact, think of a device used in construction, logging or mining and their is most likely an attachment available for a backhoe that does the same job. Jackhammers, augers or drills, grapple hooks, logging tools – you name it, there is a tool available for the job.

As a backhoe operator, you will be expected to know how to change attachments. It would also help if you knew how to use each attachment. The latter is not so hard since the controls remain the same – change attachment, take five to get a feel for it, and away you go. Professional heavy equipment training is the key to understanding how to change attachments and to use many of them.

You can find professional training through ATS Heavy Equipment Operator Schools. You can complete your training in as little as three weeks and be on your way to a career as a professional heavy equipment operator in next to no time – backhoes included.

There is strong demand for heavy equipment operators at present but what does a heavy equipment career offer for new operators? In the short term, there is plenty of work available and there are opportunities for all new operators to not only gain a start in the industry, but to also bring home a healthy pay check. The long term outlook is much harder to predict.

When it comes to the future, there are never any guarantees. We don’t know where the economy is headed, whether or not the bleak conditions in Europe will affect us, or how fast we can bounce back to a healthy economy. We can however look at history and what has happened in the past.

History shows that economies are always bouncing around going from highs to lows before climbing back to highs again. There is one other factor that needs to be considered when looking at any career, particularly those in construction and heavy equipment. This is the aging of our population. To some, there is real concern that, rather than having an over supply of operators, we will be left with severe shortages.

If you look around most building sites, the one thing you will rarely see is sixty year olds at work, even in the cab of heavy equipment. Most construction workers seem to get to around fifty, perhaps fifty-five and then give the game away and look for employment that is a little less physical, a little less dependent on young fit bodies. Heavy equipment careers are a little different in that age is not a strong factor when it comes to being capable – but after 30 or more years as an operator, many are still ready to call it quits when they hit their fifties.

This exodus of labor from the industry is already starting to take affect. Many employers are trying hard to retain experienced operators well into their fifties, or using them to pass on their skills and knowledge to the next generation. Is there a bright future for heavy equipment operators? The next twenty years will undoubtedly see highs and lows, but if we don’t have an increase in the number of young people graduating from heavy equipment training programs, there is a real risk that we will have severe shortages in numbers, not an excess. Heavy equipment careers can still offer a reasonably stable future for new operators – we just need to encourage more into the industry.

If you’re a business that employs crane operators to do specialist tasks then forming an alliance with an experienced and accredited training provider can make a lot of sense. Alliances enable employers to build a relationship that delivers quality training to their employees, often at a cost far less than if the employer was to deliver the training themselves.

Training providers like ATS Crane Operator Schools do the hard work in developing training programs, training materials and gaining accreditation for both their training program and their training delivery. They can also gain accreditation to deliver assessments and certification of crane operators under the umbrella of the National Commission For The Certification of Crane Operators (NCCCO).

These can all be costly processes to go through and, unless you are training a hundred or more operators each year, not very cost effective. Internal training costs are exploding these days, particularly when operators (like crane operators) are faced with compulsory certification. Many large businesses are now finding that the cost of training is moving beyond being viable as an internal process so they are instead outsourcing their training requirements.

By developing informal partnerships with training providers, the individual cost of training is reduced yet the training delivered is still tailored to their specific requirements. At ATS Crane Operators Schools, we have dedicated training staff that can deliver crane operator training at one of our training schools, or on your site if that is more practical. It becomes a win-win situation for employers – their employees are trained to operate the equipment on hand using techniques that are often unique to that business niche. The costs are reduced with one whole department (training) effectively outsourced for someone else to worry about. For your employees, they are receiving the skills that continue to make them valuable employees to your business.

If you employ crane operators, particularly in specialist situations, or in areas that are considered remote, then contact ATS Crane Operator Schools to discuss forming a training relationship.

One of the things you will notice about graders is that they tend to work on their own. This can be a little misleading because graders are really just one part of a large team – a very integral part of that team. Road making, for example, is done in stages with different heavy equipment handling each stage. A grader cannot commence until a bulldozer has finished its work; likewise, the hot-mix machines cannot commence until the grader has completed its work.

As part of a team, you will often see that roads are built in sections. A bulldozer will work on section one and, once completed, move onto section two. In the meantime, the grader sets to work on section one. When completed, it too moves on to section two. In a well oiled and efficient team, each piece of equipment finishes its job just in time for the next unit to come. They are all working as a team and before you know it, a new highway has been constructed.

Heavy equipment training at ATS Heavy Equipment Training Schools offers students experience on a range of equipment. This is useful knowledge going into a work place since operators know what each unit of equipment is capable of. It all helps a team knit together over time – a factor you can see in a well oiled team that seems to complete jobs on time and with few problems.

If you enjoy working as both an individual and a team player then working as a heavy equipment operator could be an option. A grader is only one of the many options available, yet it can be one of the most challenging and exacting options in the heavy equipment range. Interested? Then contact us for more information on training dates and for the closest ATS school to you.

A commercial drivers license (CDL) enables the holder to operate vehicles of a commercial nature. This includes trucks, tankers and buses. It is the class of license together with any endorsements that determines what size vehicle and what sort of goods the holder can transport. Generally speaking, the classes and endorsements are common across the nation even though each state manages their own licensing. This often means that, although you hold a particular license in one state, if you move to another state you will need to transfer your license to that new state.

Using Florida’s licensing system as an example, the classes of commercial drivers license fall into the following three categories:

• Class A: Trucks or a truck combination that has gross vehicle weight rating of 26,001 lbs. or more, provided towed vehicle is more than 10,000 lbs.
• Class B: Straight trucks weighing 26,001 lbs. gross vehicle weight rating or more
• Class C: Vehicles transporting placardable amounts of hazardous materials, or vehicles designed to transport more than 15 persons including the driver with a gross vehicle weight rating of less than 26,001 lbs.

Endorsements are additions, or special components to a license, that allow the operator to move certain goods. The Endorsement comes in the form of a letter; for example, an A class CDL with H endorsement. The endorsements are (for Florida):

• H. Any vehicle used to transport hazardous materials in placardable amounts.
• N. A tank vehicle designed to transport any liquid or gaseous material with designed capacity of 1,000 gallons or more.
• P. Any vehicle, public or private, designed to transport 16 or more passengers, including the driver
• S. A commercial motor vehicle (requires CDL) used to transport pre-primary, primary or secondary school students from home to school, from school to home or to and from school-sponsored events. Does not include a bus used as a common carrier.
• T. Combination vehicles with double/triple trailers
• X. Any tank vehicle used to transport placardable amounts of hazardous material

To obtain a commercial drivers license, you will need to meet certain requirements such as age (18), pass an eye test and undertake (and pass) written and practical tests. There are also Federal requirements that need to be meet (for example, if you are wanting a H – hazardous materials – endorsement then you will need TSA finger print clearance) and a DOT physical examination.

ATS Truck Driver Schools can help prepare you for the tests that are required to obtain your commercial drivers license. This includes both in-class and behind-the-wheel training. Truck drivers are in high demand and although the process to obtain a CDL may seem protracted, it can be achieved quite quickly. A Class A commercial drivers license can certainly open the door to a whole new career.

Every job has its good points and its bad points and for loader operators it’s no different. One of the downsides to living on a continent like the North America is the unpredictable nature of the weather. Whether it’s tornadoes, hurricanes or wild fires, they all leave devastation in their wake and someone has to clean up after them.

In many cases, the devastation is complete. Homes, schools and buildings in general are either totally destroyed or damaged to the point that repair is impossible. In these situations, bulldozers often come in and literally clear the area – the scrape it clean. The problem with bulldozers is that they are limited in what they can do. They can clear all areas, but effectively all they are doing is pushing everything into piles. It is the loader operators that have to come in and load everything into dump trucks ready to carted away.

It can be a tough job at times. You are clearing away people’s lives. There are treasures that cannot be reclaimed – photos, mementos, furniture, along with the buildings themselves – what were once people’s homes. Like I said, it’s a tough job. But someone has to do it and work is work. If you don’t do it, someone else will.

We can train you to be an effective loader operator; we can provide you with all the skills required for the position. What we can’t do is teach you how to mentally handle this type of work. Some people just switch off and treat it like every other job; for others, their heart goes into every load, particularly if they are from that community. There is one upside to this – no matter how much destruction there is, people will always stand up and start again. Before long, the site you are about to clear will once again have a home standing there.

People will pick up their lives and move on. So while the job may have a downside, in reality, if you’re not there to do it, people can’t move on and start again. Bulldozer and loader operators are our society’s first steps to rebuilding lives. So when looking at a site that has suffered some calamity, look on the bright side – your there to help rebuild lives!