Heavy equipment on building sites is not confined to those that move earth. One of the most important, and most challenging jobs, is that of a crane operator. The crane itself is often fairly straightforward to use, however there are so many variables to consider it can make life quite interesting – especially if you 20 floors up and trying to lift materials from the ground.

There are obvious factors to consider when operating a crane. Weight is the most important. If it is too heavy, the crane is most likely going to tip. However, what is too heavy? A weight lifted today may be too much tomorrow. When your on top of a building, the variable that can affect the operation of your heavy equipment is weather – particularly wind.

Wind creates many difficulties for a crane operator. The first effect felt is that of swing. As the wind connects with the materials being lifted, you can get a swinging effect. This can put immense pressure on the crane itself and has been known to cause a crane to topple. In windy conditions, the load may need to be reduced by half to handle the situation.

The second effect is one of spin. This can put strain on the crane’s wire rope. Fortunately, modern fittings now take of most of the problems caused by spin. However, if the load has insufficient clearance, or there is swing accompanied with the spin, the load can make contact with the building sides causing a lot damage.

Sound scarey? It should if your not trained properly. However, with the correct training you will learn how to deal with sorts of situations. You will learn what is safe, and what isn’t. When you should stop altogether until weather conditions improve. Crane operators is a career that can be very challenging, yet very rewarding.

ATS Heavy Equipment Training Schools have a training course dedicated to cranes. If your looking for a career as a crane operator, why not request our free brochure on crane operator training.

Bobcats, you see them everywhere these days. The bobcat is generally considered to be a landscape gardeners tool of choice when it comes to digging, moving soil and moving heavy plants. Although they are small in size, could they still be considered heavy equipment?

It would depend on your definition of heavy equipment. In my mind, heavy equipment is any mechanized device that takes the manual labor out of an earth moving job. You can also add to that some of the basic skills required to operate a bobcat are also those required to operate some of the larger construction machines.

The reverse is certainly true. If you can operate a bulldozer, you should be able to make the transition to a bobcat very quickly. Safety requirements are very similar as are operating techniques in the cab. They both require hand, feet and eye coordination.

Heavy equipment comes in all shapes and sizes. Apart from cranes, they all have one thing in common – they are used to move dirt, gravel and sand around. They all require similar training as well although a bobcat can be picked up on the job fairly quickly. However, if you have the basic skills acquired whilst learning to operate the large brothers of the bobcat, handling a bobcat will be easy.

ATS Heavy Equipment Training Schools can provide all the training required to operate the large earth moving equipment. The bobcat, learn to operate a dozer or a frontend loader and you will be right at home in a bobcat.

When considering heavy equipment certificates and certifications, there are many aspects to consider. Firstly, any registered training organization can issue certificates. It is whether or not they are accredited and exactly what type of certificate you receive.

Some certificates are not certificates at all, they are simply statements of completion. They may say you have completed a training course in heavy equipment. Notice it doesn’t say you have passed or that you are competent to handle any equipment.

If you receive training from certified training organizations, they should generally state what course you undertook and what assessment criteria was used when assessing you. It should also state whether or not you were passed as competent against that assessment criteria.

Employers are not looking for pieces paper, no matter what they say. They are looking for skilled individuals who can immediately climb into the operators seat and start operating their heavy equipment. If your training organization has a reputation for providing people with these skills, then the certificate issued by them will open doors – your skills will get you the job, not the certificate.

ATS Heavy Equipment Training Schools are are accredited by The National Center for Construction Education and Research (NCCER). Your certificate is not issued lightly – you still have to earn it.

Heavy Equipment needs to be inspected and serviced on a regular basis. Without these routine inspections and services the equipment fails – and often fails badly.

Inspections are often carried out daily with services carried out on monthly, bi-monthly or a quarterly basis. Many heavy equipment manuals determine service routines based on hours used. As a heavy equipment operator, your task is often to carry out the daily and weekly inspections.

Servicing on the other hand requires skilled mechanics. Changing the oil can be an easy task. Inspecting the oil for signs of wear and tear can help to prevent long term damage own the track.

Having a regular service goes beyond just changing the oil. Brake and hydraulic fittings need to be checked as do safety issues. Where signs of wear and tear are evident, the component can be repaired or replaced quickly and easily. This often prevent more expensive repairs further down the track.

Basic maintenance is included in most of our training programs. You will learn enough to understand the requirements to successfully complete a safety inspection prior to starting a job each day. ATS Heavy Equipment Training Schools can provide you with the skills to not only inspect heavy equipment, but also to operate successfully.

Finding employment as a heavy equipment operator is not that difficult these days. There is strong demand for workers in most areas on all types of equipment. You can almost pick your area of specialty; construction, road construction, forestry, mining or one of a dozen different areas.

If you are really keen to get started, you could also check out the Job Placement service at ATS Heavy Equipment Training Schools. We don’t just train you, we also help you to find employment. Our success rate is around 80% and continues on indefinitely.

We have a job placement database that you can access to help find the right employer in the right location, and with ten heavy equipment training schools spread around the country, there is bound to be the best job for your situation.

The key to employment success through our job placement service is to register as soon as you start your training. That provides us with plenty of time to match your skills and requirements with employers. As heavy equipment positions are being made available daily, we are constantly on the lookout for a job that suits you.

Employers keep coming back to us for one reason. We provide well trained candidates that are carefully matched to their requirements. That is how we achieve that employment rate of 80%. Check out the training and job placement service and get your career in heavy equipment of to a flying start.

There are many different types of heavy equipment and for machine, there are a variety of manufacturers, models, shapes, sizes and attachments. It is not feasible to learn how to operate every different type of machinery. You can however fain an understanding of the basics of many of them.

At ATS Heavy Equipment Training Schools, we provide training for a variety of different heavy equipment machines. This machinery includes:

• Loaders,
• Backhoes,
• Tractors,
• Scrappers,
• Rollers,
• Bulldozers,
• Excavators, and
• Motor Graders.

Training also includes safety aspects, soil types and some advanced operational techniques. Gaining a basic understanding of how to operate a range of heavy equipment places you in a position to specialize in one that you are comfortable with.

Large scale building constructions sites are a hive of activity. Heavy equipment is more pronounced on these sites than any other building site.

From bare ground, bulldozers go to work and strip it back, clearly all vegetation and loose material. If the ground is soft enough, the bulldozer together with a front end loader will continue to cut away at the surface digging deeper and deeper.

Once the hole is deep enough, cranes go to work lowering construction materials into place. Cranes are often used to lower either completed concrete slabs or huge buckets of ready mix concrete ready for pouring. Steel girders and beams are also lowered.

Pylon drivers may be used to drive pylons into the ground as part of the buildings shell. Cranes continue to work lowering materials as required. Some cranes are able to lift themselves floor by floor as the new building rises from the ground. Once the building has been completed, the cranes are often dis-assembled and brought back to the ground.

Large high rise buildings would not exist if it wasn’t for heavy equipment. If a career as a heavy equipment operator on a construction site appeals to you, check out ATS Heavy Equipment Training Schools for a course that may suit you.

As a heavy equipment operator, one of your daily tasks is the maintenance and upkeep of your machine. There is a lot an operator can do each day then ensure their equipment is always ready for action. Daily maintenance also helps to prevent any long term breakdowns that require large dollars to repair.

One important resource that all operators should have is a maintenance handbook and log. The handbook describes the various maintenance tasks that should be performed. The log is a written record of maintenance has been carried and by whom. Obviously the type of heavy equipment you operate will determine what type of maintenance is required.

There are fairly obvious heavy equipment maintenance inspections that should be carried each day. These include checking tires or tracks for wear and tear, checking for any fluid leaks such as oil and hydraulic lines, checking buckets and other attachments for any broken components, particularly teeth on units that have them, and checking electricals such as lights, indicators and horns or sirens.

Other regular maintenance activities may including changing engine oil, topping up brake or hydraulic fluids and changing tires. Simple activities like keeping your heavy equipment relatively clean also plays an important role in the ongoing well being of your equipment.

Learning to operate a piece of heavy equipment does not end with learning the controls. Basic maintenance should also be a part of your ongoing training, first off the job and later on the job. If you ever get into a position where you own your own unit, you quickly come to understand the benefits of regular maintenance and the amount of money it can save you over the long term.

ATS heavy Equipment Training Schools provides a comprehensive training program for all major pieces of heavy equipment.

Being a mobile crane operator is an interesting and varied career. You just never know what sort of tasks you are going to be asked to perform.

Most building sites use a mobile crane at some stage of the construction process. Whether it is simply unloading vehicles or careful placement of girders, pylons or complete building pieces, the mobile crane is there to do the job.

It’s not only construction that uses mobile cranes. Some manufacturing industries use them to load trucks and rail carts. They are used to place power poles, they may even be called upon to right vehicles, particularly trucks, after accidents.

Training consists of three levels with each level building on the previous. The first level concentrates on the basic principles of cranes, rigging, safety and operation. These are the foundation skills without which you would find it difficult to understand the following levels.

The second level delves into communication including official hand signals, maintenance, wire rope theories and the use of computer aids. You also gain an understanding of the movement of cranes particularly how they move from one area to another.

The third and final level deals with boom attachments, advanced operational techniques, planning lifts and emergency procedures. This final level provides many of the finer skills to operating a mobile crane.

Whilst it may all look theoretical in nature, everything is designed to turn you into a highly skilled mobile crane operator ready to commence a long and interesting career. If a career in this field interests you then perhaps you should check out the full mobile crane operator training program at ATS Heavy Equipment Training Schools.

Backhoes used to be considered toys and many of them still are. However, some of the latest models no longer fit the toy class, they are real heavy equipment machines.

A simple machine, generally with a hoe at one end and a bucket at the other, they were often seen around residential building sites digging trenches for water and other services. The big boys can now be seen digging wide and deep trenches for main water pipes, major oil and gas pipelines and sewerage pipes. This new breed of heavy equipment which, because of its versatility, is slowly replacing trench diggers on some construction sites.

While their little cousins run around residential areas, larger machines can also be found in open cut mines where they help to remove scree other lose material that the larger buckets cannot access. Heavy equipment has done a complete circle with renewed interest in this type of equipment.

Operating the larger heavy equipment range of backhoes is not to different to the smaller versions you see everyday. The major difference is simply in size with the larger machines often three or four times bigger.

Learning to operate heavy equipment is far easier than most people imagine. You can acquire basic skills in a matter of weeks, the fine tuning of those skills developed on the job. ATS Heavy Equipment Training Schools can provide that basic training and get you started on your career as an operator of heavy equipment such as bulldozers, graders, cranes, trucks and of course, backhoes.