I noticed a house that suffered severe fire damage several months ago being demolished by a pair of backhoes the other day. They certainly made short work of the job. Within two days the house was gone, totally gone.

What strikes me as amazing sometimes is just how versatile a backhoe can be. Sure, over the years the number of attachments available for a backhoe has grown considerably. To actually see them at work, and the speed with which an experienced operator can switch attachments is equally impressive.

Obviously the two old timers operating their machines had a lot of experience between them. They knew exactly what to do, when to do it, and more importantly, where to start. That would most likely have got me to begin with. Working as a team, they slowly took that house apart and as they went, it was all loaded onto trucks and carted away.

Experience and knowledge is something that is developed over time. I called these two old timers simply because they were. They looked to be pushing 55, perhaps 60, but in reality, age is irrelevant. I have also seen operators in their mid twenties with the skills to match these two. It isn’t how long you have been operating a backhoe that matters, it’s what you learn each and every day that matters.

This learning starts of course with backhoe training from a quality training company. Once you have that solid base of knowledge behind you, you are ready to work in the real world. You can then build your experience and skills on a daily basis. Who knows, one day it might be you I see pulling down an old building – I must say, it did look like fun.

Every piece of heavy equipment has a role in building our country. You can thank the humble excavator for helping to connect our nation. If you can imagine the millions of miles of water pipes, sewage pipes and communications pipes that have been laid from coast to coast – that is a lot of pipe line.

Sure, the whole lot could have been laid by hand. But imagine the cost, the time, and how many people would be required to do that job – if you could get anyone to do it in this day and age that is. What takes ten men a day to do – an excavator can do in half the time using one man. More importantly, where you have ten men swearing and cursing and hating every minute of their job, excavator operators not only love their work, they are proud of it.

Check the photo and tell me how many people it would take to dig that hole, lower that huge pipe into the hole, then back fill it all – by hand! The excavator makes light work of the job no matter how hard the ground is.

Working as an excavator operator could see you digging trenches for those large pipes, or digging smaller trenches for communications lines. If you can think of a need for a trench, then I can find an excavator to do the job. It doesn’t matter how wide or how deep the trench is, the skills required are the same and can be gained by undertaking a heavy equipment training program that includes excavator training.

If you are an employer and you are not quite getting the best out of your workforce, you may want to consider engaging a custom training organization. There are few businesses that have the resources or skills required to intensively train their workforce although many try with less than satisfactory results.

Professional training organizations that have custom training programs available have a host of real advantages. One of the biggest often comes as a surprise to employers yet a careful study will reveal how true it is. Custom training is generally speaking far cheaper than trying to do it yourself.

Think about the costs associated with training just one member of your workforce. Someone has to do the training which means taking them out of the production cycle and placing them into a low producing position is one hefty cost. Other costs include developing a training program that can deliver the required skills immediately.

If you are not employing skilled training staff then there is a good chance that the training delivered could be ineffective – or worse. It could lead to the development of poor work habits. Cost is a huge factor and is a part of many of the other reasons that employers undertake custom training. These reasons include:

• qualifications and skills of training staff
• flexibility of delivery
• on/off site delivery of training
• assessment and awarding of certificates
• tailoring of training to meet specific goals

You may feel that as an employer you can handle some or all of these areas. The last point is a good example. You know what goals you want to achieve and how the equipment should be used to achieve those goals. That, however, does not mean you have the skills to develop a training program to achieve those goals, at least not without help. Custom training – is it right for you? Almost always – yes!

They call them boys and their toys and when it comes to heavy equipment, they don’t get much bigger – mind you, there are plenty of girls enjoying the thrills of the sport as well. Around the country and throughout Canada there are various events that challenge heavy equipment operators at what they do best. Often held as part of county or state fairs, these contests are a lot of fun to watch. They are even more fun to participate in.

One of the best contests to watch (and one of the funniest) is the backhoe egg race – yes, egg race. Backhoe operators need to move an egg from on top of a pile of dirt and place it into a nest made from an old tire and some straw – without breaking the egg. By the way, they don’t use their hands, they have to use the backhoe bucket to do the whole task.

Backhoes are not the most graceful of tools, yet you would be surprised at how many eggs make it unscathed. How about a game of backhoe basketball. Here the operator has to lift a ball from the top of a cone and place it into a basket.

If you really want to have fun, keep your eyes open for, wait for it, synchronized dancing. I have only ever seen this twice – once using backhoes and the second time using skid steer loaders. It is fun to watch but more than that, you have to marvel at the control these operators have over their equipment.

This of course is the aim of these contests. How well can these operators master their machines? It all starts way back at the beginning when they first received their heavy equipment training. They have obviously had the kind of training that has made them feel extremely comfortable with their machines – the kind of training that has lead to them being experts in the field of heavy equipment operations. If you ever get the opportunity to visit one of these contests, do it. You will be thrilled at the action and amazed at their skills.

One of the biggest problems in the construction industry at present is getting our youth interested. This lack of interest is flowing through to heavy equipment careers with the numbers of young people who are undertaking training dropping each year.

The future of any industry is in our youth. As they gain knowledge and experience, they transfer that knowledge onto future generations. There are a lot of programs around, such as the Block Kids Program, a program that tries to get our youth interested in construction. When it comes to heavy equipment, we tend to rely on the fascination that children develop when playing in their sand pits at an early age.

Whilst many complain about the lack of youth coming through, heavy equipment is perhaps one industry where we can be more relaxed. It doesn’t matter how old you are. If you are reasonably fit, reasonably intelligent and willing to look, listen and learn then you can be trained to operate heavy equipment.

There is a lot of emphasis placed on youth. However, many employers shy away from taking on the very young. Not only do they lack experience on the equipment, they lack experience in driving in general and they lack experience in life. This is where the not-so-young have a distinct advantage.

Where a lack of youth will hurt the industry is in isolated areas. In the past, this was seen as an attractive way to work and save money to help fund specific life goals. Mining, forestry, and isolated projects like pipeline construction could start to feel the pinch.

What is important for everyone to realize is that heavy equipment careers are for everyone. You don’t have to be fresh out of school to undertake training. In fact, a little maturity could be a real plus when seeking employment. Heavy equipment training is designed to encompass all ages and genders so whether you’re fresh out of school or nudging 40 (or older), if you’re interested in a heavy equipment career don’t let your age get in the way – no one else will.

Safety is one issue that should not be ignored. Throw in a large piece of machinery and you you can understand a little about why heavy equipment safety is so important. Safety guidelines are set to protect everyone and everything. The operator, their fellow workers and the general public obviously require some form of protection but so to do buildings, vehicles and many other objects.

Some safety aspects are fairly obvious. For example, vehicles that are parked should have safety brakes applied. That is pretty obvious. Did you know that if that vehicle is parked overnight close to any public roadway then in some areas it requires either lights and reflectors or a barricade fitted with lights or reflectors?

It may seem like a useless piece of information. However, for an operator it is an important safety issue that has to be complied with. You would think it would be fairly hard to accidentally collide with a huge bulldozer that has been parked off the road – but it has happened. This is why these vehicles need to be clearly seen and idenfied as traffic hazards by passing motorists.

Safety rules go far beyond this and are generally focused on operational issues concerning safety. There are simple matters that the ordinary lay person would not think of. For example, the position of the bucket, scoop or blade on heavy equipment when it is moving from one area to another. Should it be up or should it be down? What sort of angle should they make? If you want the answers to these questions then you may need to consider undertaking a heavy equipment safety training program.

If you have trained and worked as a heavy equipment operator then it may be time to consider adding a commercial drivers license (CDL) to your list of skills and qualifications. You would be surprised at how many employers jump at the chance to employ heavy equipment operators that can truck their equipment to the work site.

We live in a period where employers are looking to be competitive when tendering for projects. One of the biggest costs to any business is the cost of labor. For every worker they employ, the actual cost to the business can be as much as double their pay packet. If you are on $40,000 per year, chances are it is actually costing the business $60-80,000 each year by the time you look at training and insurance and the multitude of little costs associated with employment.

If a business can employ someone with more than one skill, particularly where those skills are complementary such as a truck license together with experience as a heavy equipment operator, then that is one less pay packet. If a business can complete a project with ten less employees, that is the equivalent of over half a million bucks. The business can submit a tender for a lower price which will improve it’s chances of winning that tender. The more tenders the business wins, the more employment for you – think about it.

This situation is not restricted to heavy equipment operators. You may already be employed as a truck driver, or at least hold an A class CDL. If that is the case, you can undertake training to become a heavy equipment operator. Once again you have multiple skills that complement each other – a sure fire road to a long and successful career.

The life of a mobile crane operator has to be one of the most varied and most interesting out of all heavy equipment operators. These cranes are mobile for a reason – they go from job to job, often performing a handful of lifts every day.

You may see these vehicles on the roads from time to time. They look like a truck with a crane tower hanging over the cabin. The operator drives the vehicle from one job to another, quickly setting up and doing the job required. They then move on to the next job and each job can be so totally different to the last.

These cranes also serve a special role in our lives, which most of us hope is never called upon. In an emergency they can be the difference between life and death. Motor vehicle accidents, truck rollovers and even train derailments. These often require the services of a mobile crane operator and his rig.

In these situations, they need the immense lifting power of a crane, but they are often limited to the amount of space available to work in and the need for speed. Mobile cranes can quickly lift heavy objects clear of danger or, in the case of truck rollovers, right the vehicle so it can be towed away and the roads cleared.

Mobile crane operators used under these circumstances need to be highly skilled and extremely patient. They also need to be able to listen to, and to follow, orders from those in charge of the situation. More importantly, they need to be able to respond quickly to instructions from those on the ground as the lifting is undertaken. There are times when stop really does mean stop – an extra inch and you may cause even bigger problems.

Of course, mobile crane operators learn the basics of their trade through training establishments such as ATS Heavy Equipment Operator Schools. Once they have finished their mobile crane training it may take many years before you have acquired the skills and experience that is required in an emergency. Then again, in emergency situation, you may be the only person in a position to respond. Are you ready for it?

There is a misconception surrounding heavy equipment that focuses employment wholly and solely in the construction or mining sectors of business. This is so very far from the truth. I mean, even farmers use a range of heavy equipment each day on their farms.

It is true that construction and mining probably do require more heavy equipment operators than most other sectors, however, areas such as forestry also have a strong demand for qualified operators. They are not the only areas. You can add landscaping, shipping and even warehousing to that list.

Warehousing and heavy equipment? I see your raised eyebrows. It does of course come down to the size and type of warehouse. Most warehouses use cranes of some description to help move products. I have seen some warehouses that use bulldozers or loaders to push certain products around.

It is a similar story in the shipping industry with crane operators being in high demand along with experienced bulldozer operators.

It is the forestry industry that is perhaps the most surprising. They don’t require heavy equipment operators in a normal sense. This industry uses equipment that has been created for a specific task. A good example is the stump cutter – designed to totally remove old tree stumps. There are special machines used to prune back trees so they grow tall and straight with no side growth.

What forestry does have in common with other sectors of business is the need for suitably trained heavy equipment operators. If you have experience and knowledge on a range of heavy equipment then those skills can be sold to a forestry company. The skills are very easily transferred to new specialist machines.

Heavy equipment training takes you through the basic skills required to be successful in a wide range of career opportunities. Don’t just narrow your focus on the obvious. If you want to be a stump cutter then start by undertaking some basic heavy equipment training – it may just open some doors for you.

No one can really promise you a job once you have completed your heavy equipment training, however, a job placement service can open doors to prospective employers that may otherwise have been closed. Having said that, not all job placement services are equal. Some provide a much better service than others.

One of the keys to a successful job placement service is the actual training itself. Over time, employers get to know which training organizations deliver the goods; which training organizations use honest assessment methods (rather than passing everyone regardless of skills); and which organizations use modern equipment.

Users of heavy equipment operators build a level of trust and develop networks within training organizations. You would be surprised how often an employer contacts a training organization asking for the best grader operator, or the best bulldozer operator. They have a vacancy and they want to grab the best available before someone else does. This of course is a measure of the level of respect that employer has with the training organization.

Job placement services of course don’t just sit back and wait for employers to contact them. They are actively building their own networks, talking to employers, finding out how well a previous student has done, and of course, if they have any actual or expected vacancies.

For employers, it saves them the time and hassle of advertising vacancies. Not only that, they are not inundated by job applicants. For you the student, it also means you are not competing with a lot of other applicants. This improves your chances of getting that job once you have completed your training.

If you’re looking for a heavy equipment training provider that has an effective job placement service, check out ATS Heavy Equipment Operator Schools. Our heavy equipment job placement service kicks into gear the moment you start your training.