Anyone who is working in the construction industry as a rigger (or signal person) is now required to meet minimum training standards. There are two standards that can be met, a qualified rigger and a certified rigger. At some stage in the future you can expect industry to lean heavily towards those that are certified rather than those that are just qualified.

If you are currently working in the industry, you can attend a short course that will provide you with the skills, knowledge, and documentation required to prove your abilities as a rigger. Training is both practical and theoretical and includes testing for the issue of either a Qualification Compliance Card or an NCCCO Rigging Level One Certification.

For employers, ATS will qualify or certify your riggers (or signal persons) to meet the new OSHA crane mandate. This will improve the skills, knowledge, and safety consciousness of those personnel and ensure your employees meet the requirements. Ultimately, as an employer, it is your responsibility to ensure that all riggers meet the new standards. Failing to do so can have severe consequences, more so if they are involved in an incident that involves injury or death.

By meeting these new standards you know that your workforce is competent in the skills required to work effectively in their roles. You can also feel more secure in the knowledge your employees are working to set safety standards.

If you have not brought your workforce up to date with the new qualification requirements, contact ATS – we can help to organize the training and the issuing of training verification documents. While safety is always of concern, a well-trained workforce is also highly productive, especially when taking into account the reduced amount of time lost through accidents – always a big cost to industry.

There is more to finding a job than just looking in a newspaper. If you are undertaking any career training, then the search for employment can be that little bit harder since you have no prior experience in the industry. More importantly, you have no prior experience at looking for work in that industry. A personal career counselor can often make a real difference in helping you gain that first start – if you have one available, that is.

Career counselors are our cornerstone at Associated Training Schools. They provide that vital link between the school, the student, and employers. More importantly, because they have experience working with industry, they know exactly how a graduate should approach employers. Having access to a personal career counselor can help you develop an approach – either by mail, telephone, or in person – that employers find acceptable.

Our career services department has links to thousands of potential employers across the nation. As a student or graduate, you have access to this information through our employer database. You also have access to our jobs website where employers can leave job vacancies, and where graduates can leave copies of their resume for potential employers to read.

The one area that no one can place a value on is that of experience. Our career services personnel have a wealth of experience when it comes to helping graduates from our heavy equipment training, crane operator training, and truck driver training programs find employment. Our reputation as a quality training provider in these areas has been built on the success of our graduates in finding and building great careers in their chosen work area.

If you’re considering a career in heavy equipment, crane operations, or as a truck driver, you can rest assured in the knowledge that our career services personnel will work with you to find that first job. If they aren’t helping you, it’s probably because you did your training through someone else.

I doubt there will ever come a time when the brute force of a large bulldozer, or the finesse of a grader, or an excavator’s precision is no longer required. However, there is no doubt that mini heavy equipment is gaining in popularity. There are plenty of reasons for this – they are cheaper to buy so trained operators can become owner-operators quickly and with ease, and the smaller-sized equipment can squeeze into areas that the larger heavy equipment can’t.

While smaller equipment like bobcats and mini excavators have been popular with landscapers for many years, we are now seeing large construction companies including them in their workforce. Mini heavy equipment vehicles can be easily loaded and transported quickly, they can get in and get a job done reasonably quickly, and the amount of work they can do often belies their size. A mini excavator can have a rather large bucket fitted and lift a fair amount of dirt out of a trench for its size.

Mini loaders, while much smaller that their bigger relatives, can fill a truck quickly because of their nimble abilities. They can zip around quite quickly and still lift a fair amount of dirt with each load. So when it comes to a work-load-to-size comparison, mini heavy equipment is starting to come out in front, or at least give a bold showing.

This leaves new recruits to the industry in a quandary – do they specialize in mini heavy equipment or head towards the larger, more traditional vehicles? That’s a personal choice that is up to you. What is important is that you give yourself that choice. By undertaking your training through an accredited well respected heavy equipment training school, you will receive instruction and experience on a range of equipment. This will prepare you for the workplace and put you in a position to make a choice. If you attend a training school that only provides instruction and experience on a piece of machinery, your options will be limited to that piece of machinery.

When seeking a heavy equipment training school, make your first question count – ask them what equipment you are going to be trained on. If they don’t offer you are good range, walk away and find another heavy equipment training school.

As the economy slowly starts to gather pace, consumers start to relax and spend money. The more that is spent, the faster that economy recovers and the better off everyone is. Transport is one sector that really gets a huge lift when the economy improves. It’s a simple equation: more spending requires more goods which then requires more trucks and more truck drivers. If you want to take advantage of this increase in demand for truck drivers, your first step is to acquire a commercial drivers license.

The easiest path to a commercial drivers license is through an accredited and well-reputed truck driver training school. A good truck driver training school will train students in a variety of areas. More importantly, that training will involve plenty of behind-the-wheel driving – the only way that anyone can really gain experience and confidence when driving a truck.

While the emphasis in any truck driver training school is to teach people how to drive, there must also be training in truck driver safety issues, road rules and Department of Transport rules. An individual must pass tests based on these areas before they can be granted their commercial drivers license. Learning to drive is one thing, but learning the theoretical side of truck driving is another – yet in the bigger picture, those theoretical skills are the ones that will prove to be most important to your career.

If you are considering a career as a truck driver, make sure the training you get is comprehensive and includes all of those main factors. You will find that a good truck driver training program is the easiest path to a commercial drivers license and then a good career.

There are times when standard training is not specific enough to cover certain tasks in a workplace. While heavy equipment operators can normally acquire the skills required to succeed through a broad-based heavy equipment training program, there are some industries that have very specialized roles for their heavy equipment. Normally, the only way to acquire these specialized skills is through a specialized or custom-designed training program.

Customized training starts with a customized training program. Most training organizations use training programs that have been designed off site so their training staff have little, if any, experience in designing a customized training program. To design a program that is specific to a particular workplace, a training program designer will need to inspect the workplace, define the skills required to perform the work, and to then design a training program that delivers those skills.

While that may sound easy, in practice it isn’t. Designing a custom training program also needs to take into account factors such as:

• Time – How long will the training take?
• Prerequisites – What skills should a trainee already possess?
• Equipment – The equipment required to learn these skills.
• Location – The best place to learn – at the workplace or at the trainer’s campus?
• Cost – When developing a custom training program, the end cost must cover the training school’s cost whilst remaining affordable for the employer.

That is a tightly woven set of requirements that must be considered while designing the training itself. Associated Training Services has a long history in delivering specialized training including training for:

• NCCCO Crane Operator Training, Testing and Certification
• OSHA Compliant Rigging; Signal Person Training, Testing and Qualification
• NCCER Heavy Equipment Training, Testing and Qualification
• Class-A CDL Commercial Driver Training, Testing and Licensing

If you require specialized training for your work crew, contact ATS for an expert assessment of your training options.

Changing careers, especially as we grow older, can be a stressful time. Retraining costs money and in many instances comes with the double blow of not being able to earn while you learn. This can be agonizing for some when they find out after the training that they are not really suited to their new career. There are many now working in careers, not because they like the work, but because they feel obligated to continue having invested so much time and money into retraining. We have a real solution to that problem.

How does an afternoon spent in a heavy equipment training school sound? I’ll sweeten the deal – how about spending some time watching heavy equipment in action, climbing aboard and getting a feel for the beasts, and working through a module of a heavy equipment training program? Still not won you over? What if I said it was free – totally free with no obligation to sign up for anything?

One of the best ways of testing your suitability for any career change is to get some time knee deep in that career. That’s what is on offer – a chance for you to talk to trainers and students, a chance to look over a heavy equipment training facility, and a chance to really test yourself around that equipment. At the end of the day you will know in your own mind whether or not that is a career that you could succeed at and enjoy working in.

What is more important is that you will walk away knowing whether or not the investment of your time and money is going to deliver the rewards you are seeking in both employment and life in general. Fortunately, a heavy equipment training program is a short three week commitment – that’s not a huge drain on time or loss of income.

Don’t commit to a career where there are doubts in your mind. Come and see us to see if you are really suited to a career as a heavy equipment operator – it’s free, and since there aren’t too many free opportunities in life, you need to grab them while you can.

Career moves often come with the expense of training and this is often a stumbling block for many people. It shouldn’t be since there are so many different financing options open to people these days. Heavy equipment training prepares individuals for careers operating heavy equipment, most often in the construction industry. This industry offers good wages, often with the opportunity to work extra hours and so boosts a pay packet.

Heavy equipment training has one major benefit compared to many other career choices – your training is a relatively short three-week program. This means you could be working in your new career within a month of commencing training. That’s a quick turn around when compared to many other career choices, some of which take six to twelve months of training (or much longer) with much higher costs for training (not to mention living expenses for that period).

If you are considering a career change, and heavy equipment operations is one option on your list, consider these avenues for financing your heavy equipment training:

• Career Loans – There are many banks that offer their customers career loans. With a quick turn around from training to working, you will be surprised at how receptive these banks are to granting a career loan.
• USA Finance – You can make a down payment on your training and have USA Finance pay the rest. The size of your down payment will depend on how much USA Finance are prepared to lend.
• State and Federal Grants – There are a lot of state and federal grants available. Your eligibility will depend on your circumstances or that of your families. The families of service personnel often have access to a range of training benefits.
• ATS Options – You can apply online through our finance application process. We have a number of financing options that may be accessible to potential students.

All finance applications do need to meet standard lending criteria to include credit checks and credit scores. If your credit is not at its best, then consider applying with a co-signer whose credit is in good order. Who knows, you could develop a new well-paid career while helping to rebuild your own credit history – a win-win in the long run.

There are many options for financing training – if you are really struggling, then talk to one of our admissions personnel. They may have a few ideas you haven’t tried yet. A career as a heavy equipment operator is certainly worth the effort.

Visit a demolition site and you can almost guarantee you’ll find either a backhoe or an excavator hard at work. The two heavy equipment machines are the real jacks of all trades when it comes construction, or in this case, destruction. Backhoes have an obvious benefit – they can dig up material using their ‘hoe’ and load debris into trucks using their loaders. However, both of these vehicles have hidden talents.

If you continue to watch either a backhoe or an excavator, you may catch sight of the operator switching tools. The digging bucket can be removed and replaced by any one of a dozen or more attachments. These attachments range from augers to jackhammers, concrete breakers to pincer-like grabbers.

Operators need to develop experience at both attaching these tools to their equipment and putting them into effective use. In most cases, heavy equipment training will teach an individual to operate this equipment, and how to attach different tools. Learning to use them comes as part and parcel of the on-the-job training that heavy equipment operators go through for the rest of their working lives – yes, every day is a learning experience for every operator.

Heavy equipment training is the foundation for this ongoing on-the-job training. If your initial training is broad and covers a range of heavy equipment, your ability to learn more is enhanced. If your initial training is narrow, then your ability to build on those skills will be greatly reduced.

ATS Heavy Equipment Operator Schools offer students training in a wide variety of heavy equipment. This provides a broad-based training program that allows students to develop a wide range of skills. Once these students enter the workplace, they are able to quickly build on those skills to become well-respected operators in their field. Backhoes and excavators are multi-functional equipment so the broader your training, the more competent you will quickly become.

When it comes to heavy equipment operations, our law makers have generally left the industry alone. At least until the last decade when legislators started to take a little interest in the field. The only reason they have taken any interest is because of the number of accidents resulting in serious injury and death.

Legislators have slowly increased the rules surrounding heavy equipment operators, crane operators and construction sites in general. It is now mandatory for employers to ensure that their employees have some for of safety training before commencing work in any of those areas. Crane operators now require certification; riggers require proof of their training; and general workers must be able to point to some form of safety training.

Safety training can be delivered by suitably qualified trainers on-site, by a training organization either on-site or at their campus, or as part of a broader training program. It is now common for training programs such as a heavy equipment training program to include safety in its syllabus.

What legislators are hoping to achieve is a reduction in the number of accidents that occur in workplaces. The emphasis now is on employers employing personnel that are adequately trained in safety – in fact it’s the employers who face prosecution if they fail to satisfy this requirement.

When seeking training in areas such as heavy equipment operations, crane operations or any other aspect of construction, it is important now to ensure the training you receive does have safety components that meet these minimum standards. Failing to have this training will now result in one outcome – no one will employ you! At least, not until you undertake that training.

At ATS, we include comprehensive safety training in all our heavy equipment training programs. Our safety training component generally exceeds the minimum requirements as set out by legislation and this helps to make our graduates well sought after by industry.

When it comes to cranes, technology can make a lot of improvements to they way they work and the way an operator controls them, but technology will never replace the crane itself. At least, not until they invent some form of anti-gravity device. Cranes fulfill a unique role in the construction industry, a role that would see building taking ten times as long again to complete if we didn’t have cranes.

Why won’t cranes be replaced? Simplicity. The concept behind a crane is thousands of years old and it has never changed. A crane uses a boom to provide lifting leverage and a cable that is used to raise and lower loads. It is a simple concept, a concept that kids learn in the playground without even knowing a lot about cranes.

That simplicity is hard to replace no matter how good our technology. The shape, size, and configurations of cranes may change, but that basic lifting system will remain in place for a long time. While I may be simplifying the process of how a crane works, that doesn’t mean that operating a crane is getting any easier. The opposite is perhaps true with cranes becoming more complex in the cab.

Computer technology is playing an increasing role in an operator’s work whilst, at the same time, there is a lot pressure to increase the safe operations of cranes. Operators have to be far more vigilant and safety conscious than they were several decades ago. In fact, the workplace has reached a stage where legislators are now insisting that operators are certified to meet minimum standards before they are allowed into a crane cab.

Crane operator training through an accredited and respected training organization is the only way to ensure your training meets those minimum standards, and that you are then able to seek certification. Once you are trained and certified, you won’t have to worry about technology taking over your job – humans will always be required to operate cranes.