Cranes are a necessity in the construction industry. By using their hooks and booms, cranes help transport large and heavy materials at the work site. Cranes are created to help lessen the load of the workers and make their jobs easier, transporting things that are too heavy or dense for the workers to transport otherwise.

Essential to work site safety procedures

Without proper safety protocols in place, and without proper safety procedures, cranes can be dangerous to workers and passersby.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 44 people die in crane-related accidents in the U.S. each year. Crane accidents occur equally at construction sites (24%) and factories or plants (24%), with nearly 70% of crane accident fatalities occurring in the specialty trade, heavy and civil engineering, and construction industries.

More than half of the reported fatal crane injuries involved the worker being struck by an object or equipment. Also, cranes can pose a risk to pedestrians, cyclists, and passing motorists.

Reports indicate that 90% of crane accidents are the result of human error, so they could have been prevented. It is imperative for those working on or around cranes to undergo the proper safety training, so accidents can be avoided and injuries can be prevented.

ATS offers training for crane operators and also offers safety courses as well. Call today to learn about the available programs.

The chief economist for Realtor.com has said that she expects home sales to hit a 16-year high this year. She said that she expects a record year for homebuyers, and trends show that competition is continuing to stay strong with demand outnumbering the available units.

According to Forbes, housing inventory is picking up at a record pace. For the third month in a row, listings increased with July listings up 30.7 percent. While buyers had more options when it came to buying, the competition remained in the sellers’ favor, according to experts.

While the U.S. housing market is growing toward a more level supply versus demand total, there is still a strong demand for more housing units. That means that the construction industry will remain in demand in the residential construction realm.

With a need for residential construction projects, there remains a strong need for skilled laborers and equipment operators in the construction industry. If you are looking for a new career with strong job opportunities, training as a heavy equipment operator or learning the different skill sets for a construction worker can be a real asset to your future.

Associated Training Services is a veteran-friendly school that is accredited and accepts GI bill funds to help you advance your career. Call us today at (800) 383-7364 to learn how we can help you take your career to the next level.

No construction manager would even attempt to start building the upper floors of a building before its foundation was set. While you may have a lot of flexibility in terms of which areas of the job you want to tackle and when there are certain tasks that must be done before anything else can happen.

How To Improve Your Construction Site

Unfortunately, many job sites become bogged down in delays because the workflows haven’t been properly established and managed. In basic terms, workflow describes the sequence of activities that are needed to get the job done. Without the right processes in place, work can grind to a halt, as crews performing one task must wait for another team to finish a different task.

With that in mind, here are some tips you can use to improve the flow of activity on your site:

1. Use checklists: It sounds simple, but starting with a standardized list of the tasks you need to get done can make certain jobs — such as equipment maintenance and planning — much easier. A list ensures that nothing will be overlooked and there should be fewer surprises once you get started.

• Implement automation: Construction software can handle many of the most tedious and menial parts of the planning and scheduling process, often with greater accuracy than humans with pen and paper. These systems are even capable of generating flowcharts, so you can be certain you’ll have an optimized workflow for your team.

• Find a 3PL partner: Coordinating the delivery of equipment and materials to and from the site is one of the most important and challenging aspects of any project. Working with an experienced third-party logistics provider to handle these steps could not only reduce your workload, but also ensure that you’ll have experts on your side.

• Improve communications: Perhaps the simplest way to improve your workflow is to make sure the lines of communication stay open within your enterprise. In construction, one of the biggest obstacles to success is when teams don’t keep each other in the loop. Building a solid company culture that values teamwork and transparency could help prevent bottlenecks and redundancies from impacting your work in the field.

It takes more than a blueprint to ensure a successful build. Coordinating and streamlining all the activities on your Jobsite requires a bit of foresight and strong internal practices, but the rewards are often well worth the effort. Paying attention to your workflow and taking some steps to enhance it can make you a stronger organization and lead to better overall results.

Still Training Heavy Equipment Operators

Construction is considered a necessity, and despite the shutdowns that took place because of the Covid-19 pandemic, construction has continued. While some states have specified which kinds of construction were essential, some states only allowed work on what was deemed necessary, such as housing, medical, and infrastructure projects.

With construction projects in high demand and new infrastructure plans, so is the need for qualified and well-trained heavy equipment operators and construction workers. Associated Training Services (ATS) offers a variety of training programs including:

• Heavy Equipment Operator
• Mobile Crane; NCCCO certifications
• Truck Driving
• Get Your CDL
• Rigging/Signalperson; NCCCO certifications
• Digger Derrick; NCCCO certifications
• Tower Crane; NCCCO certifications
• Directional Drilling
• Specialized Training; NCCCO certifications

We offer career service assistance, which provides students with some tools, resources, and assistance to help with career goals nationwide. Our career services department provides a job leads database, which contains the names and contact details of thousands of potential employers. New employers and job postings are constantly being added to the database.

ATS is open and training students. An appointment is required, and masks must be worn. We accept military benefits and financial assistance is available. Now is the time to get started in the construction industry or to start a career as a heavy equipment operator. Call (800) 383-7364 today to learn more about how we can help you take the next step.

If you would like to have a career as an overhead crane operator, you will need to undergo the proper training to be certified. All overhead crane operators, according to OSHA guidelines, must have a thorough understanding of rigging, signaling, operating, and maintaining overhead cranes. The training requirements indicate that the overhead crane operator receives training from a qualified trainer.

The leading cause of overhead crane and hoist accidents is improper rigging and/or crane operator errors. With proper training, the risks of these accidents are decreased greatly. The operator of the crane must be certified, and the rigger and signalperson must be qualified, but certification isn’t required but it is recommended.

Your crane certification is good for 5 years. Every 5 years the crane operator must go through the testing process to be recertified. Overhead cranes are used for manipulating and handling loads that are suspended. To operate an overhead crane, the individual must be at least 18 years of age, meet the physical requirements, and in some states, a CDL is required in addition to the certification.

To learn more about overhead crane training and certification and the programs offered at Associated Training Services (ATS) call (800) 383-7364. Financial aid is available. If you are interested in becoming an overhead crane operator, we have a team of experienced professionals available that will help you come up with the best plan for your financial situation and career goals.

The construction industry has jobs for individuals who can operate different kinds of machines and heavy equipment. To find employment in this field, you will need to undergo specialized training and know the proper safety procedures so you can do the job to specification and safely.

Associated Training Services (ATS) offers students the opportunity to train in a variety of fields, so they can find employment in various industries and operating different kinds of equipment and machines. Here are just a few of the different kinds of equipment that ATS instructors can provide training for:

• Excavators
• Bulldozers
• Backhoes
• Wheel loaders
• Scrapers
• All-terrain forklifts
• Motor graders
• Articulated off-road dump trucks
• Hydraulic cranes
• Articulated boom cranes
• Lattice boom cranes
• Tower cranes
• Digger derricks
• Truck driver training

Heavy Equipment Training For Those Seeking Employment

ATS has highly experienced instructors who can provide two levels of heavy equipment operator training on the different kinds of heavy equipment included on the list. These are the most commonly used pieces of equipment used in industries that employ heavy equipment operators. The training programs include hands-on training and classroom experience. Students will learn how to read grades, grading stakes, laser levels, site plans, soils, and site layouts as well as learn all the proper operating techniques and safety protocols.

Students who are learning how to drive a truck commercially and obtain a CDL will be able to seek employment driving a truck, a crane, or a heavy equipment operator. When a student obtains a CDL, he or she can drive a truck and haul the heavy equipment to the job site or drive a mobile crane on the roads. Students learn the basic skills that are needed to drive Class-A vehicles.

Getting The Details

When you are ready to learn more about the different kinds of training programs for heavy equipment operation, call ATS and learn about the financial assistance and other opportunities available to prospective students. Call (800) 383-7364 today and speak with an admissions counselor.

Bridge Inspections are a priority! Millions of people cross bridges daily. These bridges are inspected by trained engineers, but sometimes damages occur, or problems are unnoticed leading to bridge collapses. Over the last 50 years, there have been several U.S. bridges collapsed. Some of these were caused by accidents or collisions while others are structural deficiencies. Here are some examples of major U.S. bridge disasters:

• As an example, the Hyatt Regency Walkway in Kansas City, Missouri, collapsed on July 17, 1981, killing 114 people. The weight of the guests caused the fourth and second-floor walkways to collapse. They both fell onto a crowded dance floor in the hotel lobby.
• Just outside Mobile, Alabama, on September 22, 1993, a section of an Amtrak passenger train fell from a trestle into the bayou and caught fire. A barge hit the railroad bridge just before the Amtrak train hit the bent tracks and then fell into the bayou. There were 47 deaths in the Big Bayou Canot accident.

• On December 15, 1967, the Silver Bridge collapse led to 46 deaths. The bridge reached from Point Pleasant, West Virginia, to Gallipolis, Ohio. Witnesses said the 1,460-foot bridge that was suspended fell into the river in less than 20 seconds. Investigators determined a bridge fracture caused the structure to fall like a “deck of cards.”
• In more recent years, in 2007, the I-35 W Bridge in Minneapolis, Minnesota, collapsed into the Mississippi River and killed 13 people. Investigators believe the bridge fell because the support plates were about half as thick as they needed to be.

Bridge Inspections

Bridge inspectors must undergo extensive training. There are guidelines regarding the frequency of bridge inspections, which depend on state and federal guidelines. The regulations establish the requirements for a bridge inspector, the required frequency of inspections, and the kinds of bridges that must be inspected. State Departments of Transportation (DOTs) usually adhere to the federal inspection regulations, which are found under the National Bridge Inventory Standards (NBIS) and will add to them. States usually require more frequent inspections than the NBIS calls for. To become employed as a bridge inspector, you must undergo specialized hands-on training and become familiar with NBIS and the state requirements.

At some time or another, you have seen tower cranes towering over a construction site. These are referred to as tower cranes, much as the appearance implies. They can lift as much as 19 tons and can reach as high as 265 feet. Operating a tower crane requires a lot of skill because the safety of an entire neighborhood could lie in the hands of the tower crane operator. Tower cranes are used to lift generators, large pieces of steel, and large air conditioning units among other larger and heavier items needed to construct a large building.

How Is A Tower Crane Constructed?

Tower cranes are constructed on a large and heavy concrete pad. The crane’s base is secured onto the support pad with heavy-duty bolts. The concrete pad is necessary for stability and the construction process. The pad is poured weeks before the construction process begins. The pad could be as large as 30 feet by 30 feet, can be as much as 4 feet thick, and weigh as much as 400,000 pounds. The large tower that reaches into the sky is referred to as the mast. On top of the mast is the slewing unit, which is the mechanical component that allows the rotation of the crane. The jib is a long arm extending from the crane, and the machinery arm is a shorter arm.

It can take up to a dozen tractor-trailers to haul in all the components for the tower crane. Mobile cranes are used to assemble the jib, the slewing unit, and the counterweights. The crane is grown from the base up using a climber to lift the topmost part of the crane with the jib, slewing unit, and machinery arm to allow the mast’s latticework to slide in, which the tower crane does itself using the jib. The lattice is secured then the process is repeated with the climber.

Training For Tower Cranes

If you are interested in a career in operating tower cranes, call the team at ATS Training School today.

For many years, it has seemed like for many people, the only way to succeed was with a college degree, and of course, the huge debt that goes with it. But while this has become accepted as the only route to a valued career, vocational schools have been helping people acquire the job-specific skills they need to launch a rewarding, valued career in a given profession.

There are advantages to this, firstly it takes much less time than a college degree, with 2-year courses being the average but for some industries even less. Tied to that, a 2-year or less course at a vocational school not only gets your career started and earning money sooner, but it also costs much less, to begin with, avoiding those long-term student debts that so many people end up struggling with for years.

In fact, with so much focus on academic colleges, many areas of the industry are struggling to meet the demand for skilled employees, and even the government is now rightly pointing out that we need more of the skills that vocational schools produce, but how do you know if it’s for you? The cost difference is important, but when it is your career path being chosen, that is your future and should be the main focus of the decision.

One of the biggest challenges over the next two decades is job security, so with vocational schools providing very specific skill training for chosen careers, looking at examples such as the healthcare or construction industry, we can see that here, automation is unlikely to cause as many problems as in other areas. For on-site work, operating heavy machinery, and so on, or working directly caring for patients, those skills will be in demand for a long time to come. Contrast this with the reports that many managerial and administrative jobs could disappear by 2030 through automation, and the idea of a vocational college is even more attractive.

With lower overall costs and a faster path into earning, vocational schools provide a more economical route to acquiring valuable skills, and as we have seen, with many career paths to choose from that offer sustainable and rewarding careers, they provide students with another approach that has much to offer. The mindset of ‘college or bust’ really is meaningless today, and vocational schools are a valid choice for anyone if that is the best way to acquire the skills for their chosen career path.

While social pressure may push towards college, this is changing, as society is recognizing the value of the practical skills that many vocational schools deliver, and for anyone that is thinking about their future career, a vocational school that delivers those valuable practical skills should be a choice to consider.

In any construction site, no matter what crane is being used, from the smallest loader crane to the largest tower crane, there is a certain amount of danger once a load is off the ground. Safety is a crucial aspect of any crane operation, and riggers are central to that safety, with the crane operator making up a team that oversees every aspect of the crane operation on site.

The rigging team is responsible for all aspects of a lift, from the rigging of the load to ensure it has the required support and stability by organizing the cables and so on. This is where the rigging reference comes from, a throwback to the times of sailboats, but the rigger’s duties do not stop there, they also take part in the monitoring of the process throughout the lift. The other aspect of rigging that is incredibly important for safety is the signalperson. The signalperson relays the load condition, observations of the team, and other details to the crane operator themselves throughout the process.

Each of these positions is essential for site safety, the load riggers assess the weight, balance, and size of the load, setting up the pulleys and cable system to ensure a safe lift, so safety actually begins well before the lifting process is even started. During the lift, the signalperson will help control the lift and is an essential rigger position. With modern construction requiring ever larger and heavier loads to be moved, the rigger team is crucial to keeping the site safe during the lift, aiding and advising the crane operator throughout the process. Safe crane operation really is a team effort, and riggers are crucial to that team’s success.

Of course, for that team to work effectively and efficiently to maintain safety, training is essential, but the right training is even more important. There is specific OSHA qualification for riggers and signalpersons, and those qualifications can open doors to a new and rewarding career as a rigger or signalperson.

Here at ATS, we believe safety on site is one of the most important aspects of the construction industry today, and we are proud to offer OSHA-compliant courses for both riggers and signalpersons that go beyond the basic requirements.

Our qualification program for either rigger or signalperson meets OSHA requirements, and features both written and practical instruction and testing over 8 to 12 hours, resulting in each student receiving a qualification compliance card issued by Associated Training Services upon successful completion.

Moving on, our Certification Program for riggers and signalperson exceeds the OSHA qualification standard, and again, includes both written and practical training and testing over a 4-day period. Successful completion brings with it NCCCO Rigging Level One and NCCCO Signal Person Certifications, providing a valuable skillset that employers are actively seeking.