It may sound strange, but soil type knowledge is one of the most important skills an excavator operator can acquire. Soils are not the same – that’s fairly obvious, but what I mean by that statement is that soils react very differently when being excavated. Knowing how they are going to act is an essential skill for an excavator operator.

Digging a trench in sandy soil is very different to digging in clay-based soils. Most clay-based soils tend to stick so it is fairly easy to dig trenches with walls. Sandy soils don’t stick so the walls will tend to fall back into the trench. This often means the trench needs to be wider thus creating more work.

You have the many soil types in between, each reacting slightly different to each other. And that’s not the end of the story. Soil can be made in layers and can include rock, which, in itself, is another set of knowledge. You can learn a lot about soil when you first undertake excavator training. However, it is experience that fine tunes that initial knowledge.

The next time you look at any heavy equipment operator, look beyond the basic skill of working levers and pedals. There is a set of skills based on understanding soils, rock types and often a variety of attachments for their equipment to deal with differing soils. Add to that the knowledge of safety and heavy equipment maintenance and you have highly skilled operators.

Excavators are only one type of heavy equipment, but they have become essential tools to our construction industry. As tools, they require highly skilled operators that have received their excavator training through a professional and accredited training provider.

As follow up to yesterday’s post detailing the skills of a crane operator, today’s post details the skills required to apply for most truck driving jobs. The most important component to any truck driving job is the commercial drivers license that all truck drivers need to obtain.

Your commercial drivers license really only says that you are competent at driving a truck and that you know the road rules. The license says nothing about the other skills that truck drivers generally require. Here is a list of some of the skills that employers may be looking for when recruiting new drivers.

• Running, maneuvering, navigating, or driving vehicles of the size required for the job. This could range from a dump truck to tractor-trailer combination.
• Inspecting equipment, structures, or materials to identify the cause of errors or other problems or defects.
• Performing physical activities that require considerable use of your arms and legs and moving your whole body, such as climbing, lifting, balancing, walking, stopping, and handling of materials.
• Identifying information by categorizing, estimating, recognizing differences or similarities, and detecting changes in circumstances or events.
• Being able to maintain records such as drivers logs, mileage and fuel details, deliveries and any other associated documentation.

Does it sound daunting? It isn’t. With experience these tasks are done almost without thinking. Most of them are also covered to some extent in any training you undertake. Operating the truck is only one part of your job. At your destination you may be expected to unload, or at least help, to unload your vehicle. You will also have to supervise the loading to ensure there is a reasonable distribution of weight.

Truck driver training covers a lot of the skills mentioned in this post. Obviously, truck driver training focuses first on learning to drive a truck and knowledge of the road rules required to gain your CDL. Experience over time helps to fill in any of gaps. If you have a flair for any of those skills then why not consider a career as a truck driver?

When it comes to training for any heavy equipment, crane operator training included, the language used can look a little strange. Take a look at these skills (and they are a real set of skills too):

• Clean, lubricate, and maintain mechanisms such as cables, pulleys, and grappling devices.
• Determine load weights and check them against lifting capacities in order to prevent overload.
• Inspecting equipment, structures, or materials to identify the cause of errors or other problems or defects.
• Running, maneuvering, navigating, or driving equipment.
• Using hand and arm signals for installing, handling, positioning, and moving materials, and manipulating things.

Most people would only think about the 4th item in that list, “running, maneuvering, navigating or driving equipment” when looking at skills for a crane operator. However as you can see it goes much further than that.

Keeping your machine clean and well oiled put together with an walk around inspection each day can help to avoid major maintenance issues and long down times for repairs. Knowing which weights should be used for each lift is an essential part of crane operator safety training.

The final point is equally important. Hand signals are often the only way those at ground level can communicate with a crane operator. There are many times when the crane operator cannot see the ground. Those on the ground become the operators eyes communicating by way of radio or whistles.

Looking for crane operator training? Do you think you can master that skill set? If you said yes to both then I suggest you visit ATS Heavy Equipment Operator schools and check out the start dates for the next crane operator training curse.

Do you use bulldozers or a range of other heavy equipment in a specialized environment that requires specialized skills? If so, then engaging a professional training organization to deliver customized training can cut your long term costs to a fraction of what you are currently paying.

Whilst the cost of training may seem to tell a different story, having operators that are trained to do their work quickly and efficiently without any accidents can be make the difference. The cost of having one or more units out of action can be high, particularly if you need to hire replacement units to keep the processes moving. Customized training has been shown to reduce down time quite significantly.

There are other hidden costs associated with a lack of training. Operators can become frustrated if the task is complex and they have not had adequate training. These results in those operators moving on to more satisfying employment leaving the employer to go through the expensive task of hiring a replacement. Conversely, employees that are offered customized training feel that their employers value them highly. Being able to perform tasks with their new skills add to their job satisfaction.

The end result is a team of highly skilled bulldozer operators that enjoy their job and can complete tasks without incident, day after day. A second benefit to employers is that productivity increases when are operators are trained to use their equipment effectively.

Customized training for bulldozer operators is available through ATS Heavy Equipment Operator Schools. They can provide customized training on a range of heavy equipment along with cranes and trucks. Consult one of their experts to see if they can design a customized training program that can benefit your organization.

It doesn’t matter what trade you are in these days, you need a resume if you are looking for assistance from a job placement officer. Whether it is heavy equipment operations, crane operations or truck driving, it is the resume that first introduces you to any potential employers.

A good resume doesn’t have to be sophisticated, it really only needs three components:

Who you are: obviously a potential employer wants to know a little about you so a resume normally starts with your name and address and contact telephone number.

What you can do: this is the meat of your resume and one of the first places a prospective employer will go to. Knowing the skills and how to present them is important – the following is a brief but good example:

• Running, maneuvering, navigating, or driving equipment.
• Inspecting equipment, structures, or materials to identify the cause of errors or other problems or defects.

Your Qualifications: this is just a simple list of your qualifications and where and when you obtained them. This is where you would list and licenses such as a CDL or crane operators certificate.

Building a resume is not difficult and most job placement officers can help you out. What you need is a clear list of what you can do and what qualifications you hold. Job placement officers can help you find employment – you need to help them first and a good resume is a great start.

Over the years there have been many accidents, some resulting in deaths, simply due to lack of heavy equipment safety procedures. There are many workplaces that started to introduce workplace safety procedures in an attempt to reduce the number of accidents, injuries, deaths and property damages. Let’s face it, it is not in the interests of a business to have a machine out of action, or to pay compensation for damages, as a result of an accident.

Unfortunately there were a lot employers who simply kept it ‘business as normal’. They looked at the cost of implementing safety procedures, which was a ‘now’ cost and compared them to the possible ‘future’ cost of an accident. They decided it wasn’t worth the money. When it comes to heavy equipment safety, if something goes wrong, it is generally a big incident.

Over the last ten years consecutive governments at both state and federal level have sort to introduce workplace safety legislation that puts in place a minimum set of standards in the workplace. Part of this legislative approach was to include safety training in all courses related to construction and the use of heavy equipment. There are now teams of inspectors that travel the country making unexpected visits to industry and assessing their workplace safety procedures. If a business fails these inspections they can face heavy fines.

Before undertaking any heavy equipment training, check first to see whether or not their training is accredited. Heavy equipment safety is a compulsory component for any heavy equipment training program to become accredited. Check first and ensure your training meets any legislative requirements – if it doesn’t, you will have a certificate that is worthless since no employer will take you on – make your training count – make sure it is accredited.

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.