Take a look at any construction site in the country and chances are that you will see at least one excavator. Easily recognizable, the excavator is identified by its tracked body and long, jointed boom, and large bucket at the front, but the reason that it is found everywhere is that it can be used in so many ways. Of course, as the name suggests, the main use of an excavator on any site is to remove material, and digging trenches, holes, and foundations. The flexible boom means they usually load the material directly onto trucks for disposal, but such is the flexibility of the design, they are frequently used for so many more tasks as well.

Use of an Excavator and its industries

For instance, you will often find excavators being used in forestry works as well, where they can be used for moving felled trees and other tasks, and they are also a common site on mining sites, where they are used as general equipment to dig, lift and move material around. The flexibility of the design really does come into its own away from the construction site and allows the excavator to take on so many different tasks.

It’s not just building things either, you can often find excavators on demolition sites, where they are used to pull down buildings and other construction. They are often used to perform the duties of a small crane, lifting and moving heavy objects around the site. You can find excavators almost anywhere construction is being done, and on very small construction sites, you find mini-excavators! It really has become the go-to heavy machine for so many different tasks, you even find excavators being used for dredging rivers and marinas.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DT_js2TBYWg

This is one of the reasons that so many people love being excavator operators, the flexibility of the machine itself means that you can find yourself in almost any situation as an operator, it’s a heavy machinery job that will never get boring. Wherever you go, there will always be a need for excavators and the skilled operators who drive them, and whether you are working on a new highway or demolishing an old factory, every day is different when you operate an excavator.

For many, this combination of in-demand skills and varied work makes being an excavator operator the perfect career, and with year-round opportunities and good rates, it is easy to see why. There are many career opportunities in heavy machinery, but very few that can match the excavator for variety and job satisfaction wherever you are in the country.

Trenching, or digging a ditch, may look like it is a simple process that anyone with a shovel or a rented backhoe can do. But that mistake causes many accidents and even deaths every year. According to OSHA (Occupational Safety & Health Administration), “the fatality rate for excavation work is 112% higher than the rate for general construction.”

Trenching Safety

Here are the four top causes of injury, according to OSHA’s Trenching & Excavation eTool:

1. no protective system
2. failure to inspect trench and protective systems
3. unsafe spoil-pile placement
4. unsafe access/egress

The eTool has simple guides for avoiding each of these, but reading some information is not the same thing as being trained by qualified instructors. These teachers have the credentials that result in certifications future employers and insurance companies respect.

Why Training Is Better Than Teaching Yourself

Excavators do a dangerous job. When the consequences of making a mistake are things like injury or death, it’s better to begin the learning process in a classroom with expert teachers who can give you the benefit of their experience. You can learn about the types of mistakes that can be made and what will happen. Then, after the “head” knowledge is there, the “seat-of-the-pants” knowledge can be added in an environment designed to keep mistakes from being deadly.

Everyone makes mistakes when learning how to do something even trenching. That’s why some teachers say that F-A-I-L stands for “First Attempt In Learning”. Teaching yourself certain skills is a very good idea, and reading up on OSHA guides to a career you are interested in is a good idea, too. But if you are interested in operating heavy equipment, particularly those that are used in excavating, the best thing you can do is invest in credentialed training like that offered at ATS Heavy Equipment Operator Training School.

According to OSHA, “Excavating is recognized as one of the most dangerous job in construction operations.” This is because excavators dig holes and trenches that can easily collapse if proper safety procedures are ignored or the soil is not analyzed correctly. An excavator operator has a very important job, one that requires a lot of knowledge and skill.

It may not look like the traditional excavator has changed much, but there are a lot of things happening in this part of the heavy equipment world. Many machines are being built as hybrids to save fuel, and each company tries to build the latest operating abilities into their product. But however fancy the excavator is, it’s only as good as the operator who runs it.

Excavator Operators Change Their Foundation

Since every excavator is changing the very ground it operates on, that operator needs to be able to assess changing conditions and respond in the best way possible. Whether it is digging a trench for a new community sewer system, clearing ground for a new high rise, mining, logging, disaster clean up, or something else, and excavator is one of the machines you will see being used. In each case, there are swiftly changing conditions and an operator who must know what to do.

Because an excavator operator does such a dangerous job, it’s very important to be trained properly. At ATS Heavy Equipment Operator Training School there is the experience of decades combined with the ability to adapt to the industry standards of the future. We are the recognized leaders in training heavy equipment operators for all the industries who rely on this important skilled trade.

You get the knowledge that gives perspective on a situation along with the experience that provides the skills that will continually develop on the job to make even the most dangerous jobs ones that can be done safely and professionally.

There are a lot of ways an excavator operator can get into trouble and make mistakes. Some of them are dangerous, like undercutting your machine when digging a trench, or working on a slope the wrong way. Others are really kind of funny, like Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel. In this classic children’s book, the challenge to do the work in a day leads to forgetting they’d need a ramp to get out of the construction pit they just dug.

It Starts With A Plan

Part of the reason Mike Mulligan is a sympathetic character is because we all forget to plan sometimes. In Mike’s case, he was in a hurry to get the job done so he missed a step because he was looking at the goal. Who hasn’t done this? It’s very easy to be so focused on digging the trench or the pit that you realize you are stuck only when it happens.

An experienced excavator will look over the job and visualize all the potential hangups before beginning to dig. Mike was experienced, but he was in a hurry so he ignored his experience. In real life, Mike probably would have been able to figure out how to get his steam shovel Mary Anne out of the predicament he’d put her in. Real life experience learns how to deal with mistakes.

Training Prevents Mistakes

Before planning a particular job it’s a good idea to get the best heavy equipment operator training so you learn from your instructors’ mistakes. Carefully collecting the training and certifications you need to be a professional excavator prepares you for any job. It may not be as amusing as Mike Mulligan and Mary Anne in their predicament, but it will be a lot more rewarding to avoid as many mistakes as possible.

Do you know how a lot of the work used to be done in this country? By teams of men with shovels, spending their lives digging tunnels and trenches. Many of the roads and railroad tracks still in use today were first established by a lot of shovels working hard to do the job. The guy using the shovel had to learn the best technique so he could move a lot of dirt without hurting himself or others. It took muscle, intelligence, and skill to keep moving that shovel every long day and get the job done.

Today, an excavator can do the work so quickly and efficiently you’d think the ghosts of those guys with shovels would be standing around in awe. Some machines are small enough to be towed by a car, and other excavators are able to scoop several tons in one big bucket, but they all are operated by someone who learned the same basics in training.

Every excavator operator learns how to operate the equipment safely, how to read the soil and understand site plans, and how to identify problems during maintenance so little issues don’t turn into big ones. It’s a lot different than working a shovel although those guys had to learn safety skills and techniques, too. Today’s excavator operators still need intelligence and skill to get the job done. ATS Heavy Equipment Operator Training School can get you ready to run an excavator in an entry level job within a few weeks, and you can develop the experience and skills you need to further your career. Having the basic training and certification gives a solid foundation to build on, just like those shovel-wielding men in the past built the foundations of the roads we use today.

Ask people what they thought an excavator did and they would most likely say they dug trenches. Modern excavators do far more than that; in fact, they are one of the most important units of heavy equipment on a demolition site. Excavators are also some of the primary units of equipment in mining, although the machinery itself bears a passing resemblance to your basic construction excavator – nevertheless, they are still excavators.

Training to become an excavator operator is fairly straightforward, however, it is recommended you learn to operate a variety of different heavy equipment. This broadens your work opportunities whilst giving you a better understanding of how heavy equipment works. Excavators are actually simple machines when it comes to their constructions. The equipment houses an operator’s cab that sits on tracks. The digging arm extends forward with the digging motion being towards the operator. Learning to operate this equipment then is based on an understanding of what each of the levers and pedals does and learning to coordinate your hands, feet, and eyes. Add in workplace safety training and you’re ready for employment.

That training only takes three weeks to complete (and includes instruction on a range of equipment). Once you have completed your excavator operator training you will be proficient in a number of different machines, including bulldozers, graders, loaders and of course, excavators. You can then look for employment where your skills can be refined and where you can learn to use many of the different attachments that an excavator can use.

Like the idea of working as an excavator operator? Can you spare three weeks to undertake the training? If you can answer “yes” to those two questions, then you’re well on the way to an exciting and well-paid career as an excavator operator.

Excavators have always been tracked vehicles. This made them slow and cumbersome, but very stable. The latest excavators have replaced tracks with wheels, and can be driven on open roads. These wheeled models can reach speeds of 60 miles per hour with some being four wheel drive and able to handle off-road terrain. One of the benefits of tracks was the fact that off0road terrain was generally not a problem.

The biggest difference between a wheeled excavator and a tracked excavator is the setup. Wheeled excavators have taken the mobile crane concept – that is, there is a driving cab that allows the operator to move the vehicle like a truck. There is then a separate cab that is used to operate the excavator. The cab and telescoping boom pivot in much the same way as a mobile crane. This means the vehicle can be placed on firm ground for stability, and the excavator pivoted around to the work site.

Wheeled excavators are operated in much the same way as a standard excavator. The boom telescopes, and there is a wrist-like joint between the boom and the bucket. This enables the bucket to angle in order chang to suit the task at hand. Traditional excavators have one downside – they require the services of a flat bed truck and driver to be moved from job to job. Wheeled excavators don’t need the flat bed truck – they can be driven on the open road as a truck. For excavator operators, that will most likely mean they will need a commercial drivers license. However, in today’s world, that is becoming a requirement anyway.

If you’re considering a career in heavy equipment, then the future is bright. Employment prospects are good, and the advances in heavy equipment technology is making everything easier for both operators and business owners.

Excavators are one of societies most essential pieces of heavy equipment. Water, gas, and waste water are all delivered to and from homes through underground pipes. Whilst I’m sure we could go back to the good old pick and shovel, it’s a very slow process. Excavators can do in one hour what it takes a team of men all day to achieve, and with fewer accidents.

Modern equipment now utilizes the most up-to-date technology – this includes GPS, computers and lasers. An excavator operator can dig a hole to a precise depth and width. If they have plans that show where pipes are, an experienced operator can unearth those pipes without causing any damage. We are also seeing an increase in other underground services such as electricity and telephone. One false move by an operator and we could have all of our services cut in an instant. Fortunately, accidents such as this are rare.

Whilst digging trenches is the realm of an excavator, there are other tasks. An excavator can be fitted with a wide range of attachments making it a useful tool in jobs such as demolition work. Excavators are also one of the most important pieces of equipment in mining, mind you, a mining excavator is huge compared to those you see on building sites.

It only takes a few of weeks of training to become an excavator operator. Excavator operators are well paid and there are always plenty of opportunities available. If you think about it, we are always going to need excavators if we want underground services, and that means there will always be opportunities for excavator operators.

Excavators – you would be surprised at how small they can be, and equally surprised at how large they can be. Small excavators can be loaded onto a small trailer and towed by a family car. Large excavators are the biggest machinery in use – they crawl along at a top speed of 5mph, have buckets the size of a house, and can excavate several tons of earth with one scoop of that large bucket.

No matter the size, operators still start with the same basic excavator training. That means hands on training to get a real feel for the equipment, safety training (for obvious reasons), and training in areas such as soil knowledge and understanding site plans. Operators, including those that operate the monsters of mining, also need to learn basic maintenance skills, particularly those involving problem identification – it’s better to identify a problem whilst it’s small, before it becomes a major problem that disables their equipment for any lengthy period of time.

You can find excavators working in a wide range of work places. Digging trenches is just one, however, they can also be involved with demolition work, whilst much larger excavators slave away in mines. Excavator operators are amongst the highest paid heavy equipment operators, and there is always demand for operators.

If you’re looking for a career in heavy equipment, you should give the excavator plenty of consideration. If you like variety, if you like the challenge, then excavators provide those and more. You can commence a career as an excavator operator after as little as three weeks training – that training will have the basics covered, and you’ll be prepared for entry level work.

Safety is an important issue in any workplace. Construction brings many dangers, however, for some heavy equipment operators, safety becomes a bigger problem when they are working away from a construction site. There are dangers everywhere in life, yet as you go about your daily business, are you aware of the dangers both above and below you?

Excavator operators need to be more observant than most since those above and below dangers are ever-present. Looking up and staying alive is a common theme in heavy equipment training programs. Why look up? Overhead power lines are everywhere and they represent a major danger to heavy equipment operators. Bring down live power lines and you could create all sorts of problems. To begin with, your equipment could be become ‘live’. If you try to escape, you run the risk of being electrocuted. Stay, and there’s a risk of fire, more so if those live power cables are sparking.

That’s above. What about below? Hidden below your feet are all the service pipes carrying water, sewage, sometimes telephone or power, and gas. The latter is a major cause for concern since a minor break in a pipe could lead to a major explosion – and we have seen a few of these in recent years.

Running into problems with overhead power lines or underground services can cause problems for operators, particularly crane and excavator operators who frequently raise their equipment well above eye level. Those problems also create huge problems for residents and businesses. Loss of power is one thing, being evacuated because of a dangerous gas leak is ever more of a problem.

Most reputable heavy equipment training programs include study of these issues and how to prevent incidents from happening. Workplace safety is a big issue today, so you do need to ensure you receive the best training possible before entering the workplace. If you can remember to look up when using your heavy equipment, and to check on the location of underground services, you should be able to avoid problems. Plow in without any thought, and you’ll most likely cause problems for yourself and those around you.