It doesn’t matter what type of heavy equipment you operate, every new job is bound to introduce to machinery that you haven’t operated before. I am not talking about different types of heavy equipment. I am comparing like with like – for example, if you generally drive bulldozers, then you will often find that you’re working a completely different make or model that you have become used to. You may also find that your employer has replaced an old piece of heavy equipment with a newer model, and whilst in both of these situations the controls may be similar, they won’t be exactly the same. So how do you handle the transition from one model to another? These guidelines may help.

• Read – read the manual before you even start the engine, particularly start-up and shut-down procedures, safety features and new features such as GPS and computerized processes.
• View – sit in the operator’s seat and take note of the view, in particular any blind spots or impediments to a clear view of the work area around you. You should also make note of the placement of dials and other visual feedback equipment.
• Time – give yourself a little time to get the feel for the new equipment. Don’t rush the process. Pay particular attention to the controls and how they react.

Whilst you may be well trained in heavy equipment operations, every machine – even the exact same make and model – will react differently and take a little while to adjust to. Take that time to readjust and you’ll cope with ease.

Heavy equipment safety is no longer a matter to be dealt with trivially. It is now mandatory for all heavy equipment operators to have OSHA-approved training prior to commencing work as an operator. We certainly don’t make light of this area of training, ensuring that all graduates who leave our heavy equipment operator school have met those minimum safety standards.

Safety is all about getting the basics right. You’ll often hear two phrases repeated time and again, both in training and in the workplace. These are – “three points of contact” and “look UP.”

Three points of contact refers to movement on heavy equipment (and rigging). The three points of contact are your limbs – either two hands and a foot, or both feet and a hand. Those three points of contact reduce any risk of falling.

Looking UP is important for any equipment that uses height as part of its operations. Excavators, backhoes, loaders and cranes are examples of this type of equipment. It’s natural to look ahead, around you, and down, however, it’s not natural to look for danger from above. There have been a lot of accidents over the years caused by heavy equipment coming into contact with overhead power lines. In many cases, the outcome was deadly for the operator and some of those working around them.

These are just two of the basics that heavy equipment operators need to get right, from day one. Whilst it’s important to think safety, it’s also important to do some things automatically, and looking up and maintaining three points of contact fit into that category. When undertaking heavy equipment operator training, don’t pay lip service to the safety aspects – your life could depend on it.

There is such a huge focus on heavy equipment safety these days that you could be excused for thinking it was the number one priority. For government agencies like the Department of Labor, it is. For employers, safety is obviously an issue, however, it is not necessarily their number one priority. For employers, it is more of a holistic approach.

What employers are looking for is an operator who can get a job done quickly, accurately, and safely. In fact, safety and skills are linked – if you are not operating your equipment safely, then there is a good chance you’ll have an accident, and this will lead to down time, possibly an investigation, and the job not being completed on time. In today’s construction industry, not completing a contract on time can lead to penalties, which reduce the income a construction company receives. On the flip side, if a contract is completed ahead of time, there could be bonus payments available, and since money rules the business world, you know what an employer’s preference is going to be.

When training to become a heavy equipment operator, it is important to focus on all aspects of your training. Skills are obviously important, however, safety should not be ignored or underestimated. As a student, there is not one priority learning area – in short, all of your training should be your priority.

A well-trained heavy equipment operator who can work safely whilst getting the job done on or ahead of time will always find themselves with work. These operators gain reputations that make them highly employable and sought after. Operators who have a tendency to take short cuts, have accidents, and be generally unreliable will soon find themselves unemployable – the grape vine is very strong in the field of heavy equipment and your reputation, good or bad, will quickly filter through the system. Start off on the right foot by being a competent and safe operator.

In an era gone by, heavy equipment operator training was done on an ad hoc basis. There was little if any formal training required. In most cases, new operators were trained by friends or family on a ‘sink or swim’ approach. Times have changed, and today’s heavy equipment is far more technical than it was in the early days. Having said that, today’s equipment is probably easier to operate, however, the job itself has become more complex.

There’s no denying the importance of in-the-seat hands-on training. That teaches a student how to operate the heavy equipment. What it doesn’t do is prepare a student to work as a heavy equipment operator. Whilst it may be a play on words, there is a big difference between the terms ‘heavy equipment operator’ and ‘someone who can operate heavy equipment’. I am sure that many of us can remember our early days driving cars – sure, we could drive a car, but were we drivers? That is, someone who could drive safely and competently? That then is the difference between heavy equipment operator and one who can operate heavy equipment.

Classroom training fills in the important gaps that prepares a student for employment as a heavy equipment operator. Safety training, training in new technology, even training in how to read site plans – an important requirement now when you need to work as part of a team to complete a project, these are handled in both the classroom and in and around the heavy equipment. Workers today need to be trained to a minimum level in safety aspects, and this is a classroom-based area of learning.

Heavy equipment operator training now needs to address both the practical and the theoretical side. If you are being trained in a purely hands-on environment, for example, by a friend or relative, there is a good chance that employers won’t take a risk and employ you – more importantly, when it comes to comparing the merits of several candidates for a vacancy, ask yourself whether or not an employer would take on someone who needs further training, or take on someone who has already completed their training. It is now compulsory for employees to complete safety training before working on construction sites. Classroom training may not be as exciting as in-the-seat training, however, it is now a necessary part of life.

There is a lot to think about when operating heavy equipment. You have the task at hand that needs to be completed, and in many situations accuracy is of utmost importance. Motor graders are a good example – their fine grading skills are important when they are undertaking the final grade for a new road. Excavator operators also need to be accurate, especially when digging in areas where existing services are located – you don’t want to be breaking open gas pipes, or worse, sewage pipes. To make life a little more difficult, heavy equipment operators must also take into account other workers on the site, structures, and other vehicles – overhead power lines are also a concern in some work areas.

Where a heavy equipment operator is really tested is when working on a project where the general public are in close proximity. One of the hardest jobs is working on road works, either road repairs or road widening projects. Traffic is generally diverted around your work area, however, that can still bring them very close to your equipment. In situations where half a road or a lane is closed, you will always get the rogue driver who thinks they own the road – they’ll ignore road signage and barge through. There have been countless incidents where workers have been injured because of these drivers, yet if your equipment makes contact with their car, they will be the first to place all the blame on your operating skills.

Operating heavy equipment in areas away from others can lead an operator into a false sense of security. They don’t have to be as careful. After all, there’s no one around to harm. This can lead to bad habits, which, if taken to a busier work site, can create a lot of problems. No matter where you are working, heavy equipment operators need to maintain safe work practices, both for their own safety and for the safety of others. If an operator is working safely, and a rogue driver encroaches into the work area, then they will ultimately be held responsible for any incidents.

Heavy equipment safety training is an important part of any training for new recruits to the industry. You will find that many employers follow this training up with their own safety training, especially if they have safety aspects that need to be concentrated on. Are you preparing yourself for a safe work place? Be sure your heavy equipment operator training includes a safety component – employers will not employ you if you don’t have these basics covered.

Technology in general has been one of the fastest changing areas in mankind’s history. I can remember a college professor once comparing modern technology to early cars – his comparison theorized that, if cars had improved at the same pace that technology is now speeding, then a current car would travel across the country on a thimble of fuel and that highways would be such that a car could travel comfortably at 200 mph with few if any accidents. Heavy equipment has not been immune to technology changes, and in many cases it has been borrowed from other areas.

Love it or hate it, motor sports have created a lot of the changes we see in modern cars. Power steering, ABS, fuel economy – they all owe their origins to motor sports. You can now find power steering and fuel economy technology in modern heavy equipment – and that’s just to name a few of the improvements that have come out of motor racing. Security has seen the installation of video cameras and recording in cars, and this technology has also crept into heavy equipment, particularly in the area of reversing cameras.

GPS has been a real boon for businesses that own a lot of heavy equipment. Stolen equipment can now be found in hours simply by tracking its GPS signals. GPS is also being used to help operators accurately complete jobs, especially in equipment like road graders and bulldozers. Laser leveling is also used widely in road graders to accurately produce cambers and level road surfaces.

Heavy equipment operator training now goes beyond just pushing levers and pedals to complete a job. Modern heavy equipment operators need to be proficient in the use of GPS and other technologies if they are going to have long and successful careers. This makes it important to receive training through a heavy equipment training school that has a range of equipment that includes both old and new technologies – you just never know what sort of technology your next employer is going to be using.

Workplace safety has become such a huge issue in some places that one could almost be forgiven for assuming a degree of paranoia. This is especially true of government bodies who are constantly coming out with new regulations for workplaces. When it comes to heavy equipment operations, awareness is really one of the central issues. Like driving a car, heavy equipment operators need to be constantly on the look out for problems created by others, not necessarily themselves. This could be someone walking in front (or behind) your equipment or someone driving or operating other vehicles or machinery around you.

There is a bit of a paradox that can develop over time for heavy equipment operators. As an operator becomes highly skilled at operating their equipment, it requires less direct attention. For example, an experienced operator never needs to look at their controls – they know instinctively which lever or pedal they operating. You would think that this would enable an operator to spend more time focusing on what their equipment is doing, and what others are doing around them. Sometimes, the opposite is true – the operator wanders into a daydream-like state, operating their equipment on auto pilot – car drivers often experience this, often driving from A to B and not remembering anything about the trip.

So whilst awareness is an important issue, it is only going to be effective if you can remain focused on what you are doing and not letting your mind wander. Much of this will stem from your heavy equipment training. Operators who are trained to constantly monitor their equipment and the environment around them are generally much safer. This focus on the task is a habit that must be learned then developed in the workplace.

When undertaking heavy equipment training, check to see if your training organization has an effective safety component in their training rather than a token safety module that really doesn’t develop good habits. Develop those habits during training and you’ll be starting your career off on the right foot.

Heavy equipment safety has become a big issue to the point it has drawn the attention of regulators. We have already seen crane operators requiring certification and riggers and signal persons now require some form of skills acknowledgement. Heavy equipment will most likely be the next area that regulators target, although that will prove to be a huge task given the number of operators currently employed. That doesn’t mean they won’t take them on and require some form of skills recognition, possibly to the level of certification.

We currently have compulsory minimum safety training requirements in many workplaces, and that includes heavy equipment operations on construction sites. For many operators, certification will just be an assessment of their current skills. However, there are quite a few operators who may fail some of these assessments, and one of the reasons for their failure will have been the lack of relevant training when they first started out.

Quality training is one of the most important aspects to a new career in heavy equipment operations. Employers look at your training history as part of their assessment for employment suitability. Employers do have preferred training organizations, and likewise, there are training organizations that employers don’t like. A good guide to quality is longevity – if a training organization isn’t delivering, it won’t stay in the business for long.

Workplace safety is an important issue for employers today. Accidents cost employers a lot in terms of money, time and reputation, areas that businesses can ill afford to waste. Be sure your heavy equipment operator training includes a strong safety component and that your training is provided by an organization that is well respected within the heavy equipment community.

Scenes on the news of a crane that was damaged by the high winds in New York this week are a timely warning to all heavy equipment operators. Weather is an important factor when operating heavy equipment, cranes, and even when driving large trucks. Strong winds can be a problem, however, what really causes damage is when that strong wind gusts. You may feel that operating a vehicle in 30 mph winds is okay – and it may be, however, wind can often gust to twice it’s speed, so that 30 mph suddenly becomes 60 mph, or more. The real damage being caused because it is unexpected.

It’s not just wind, rain and snow can also cause real problems. It may be quite safe to drive a bulldozer into a paddock to clear away trees and debris, however, a sudden downpour of rain could make a bulldozer’s escape a little difficult, perhaps even impossible, until the water has dispersed.

When thinking about heavy equipment safety, it’s easy to forget about weather, more so if you have had months (or years) of reasonable weather. The storms currently crossing our east coast are once every ten or twenty year storms – the kind of storms that most operators rarely get to see. This week’s storm is so severe it’s plain commonsense not to operate your equipment unless it’s an emergency. It’s the smaller storms that are a worry, the kind of storm where a heavy equipment operator may be tempted to risk it. You really need to ask yourself – is the risk worth it?

As heavy equipment operators, you have a responsibility to operate your equipment in a safe manner. It is your responsibility to ensure that people and objects are safe, that your equipment is safe, and ultimately, that you yourself are safe. If there is a risk to any of those areas, you shouldn’t be operating your equipment. Heavy equipment training can cover a lot of safety issues, however, it’s your job to assess the environment at the time.

Over the last five years we have seen the need for some form certification increase across a range of equipment. I know there are many operators who question the need for certification, with some even resenting the process. The problem is, it’s operators and employers who have forced this certification process on themselves.

Certification is all about safety, and it is designed to save both life and property. In most cases, accidents are caused by human error, often negligence. Minimum safety standards should, over time, help to reduce the number of accidents, more so if an operator has received training .

Construction sites are very busy with machinery constantly coming and going, and people always on the move. It becomes necessary in these situations to have everyone trained to at least the same mini. Heavy equipment operators can be a disadvantage – projects need to be completed on time to ensure future projects are not affected, yet there is little room for them to maneuver and work safely in.

By certifying operators, employers know that each has received their heavy equipment safety training that legislators expect of them. Employers also know that accidents should be on the decline, although no amount of training can prevent shear negligence. Fortunately, a certification system can remedy that as well – negligent operators may well lose their certification until they can prove they can safely operate their equipment. At present, there are heavy equipment operations that don’t need certification, however, this will not last for much longer, most other construction careers now do require that certification.