Loaders are machines that often get underappreciated. They may be smaller than other heavy equipment but they do a job and do it well. In fact, they do many jobs. Many pieces of the larger equipment have restrictions. They can only move so fast and only in certain spaces. Loaders go beyond what other machines can do.
On construction sites, erecting buildings or creating roads, loaders have an important job. They are quick and move in and out of areas that other machines simply cannot get into. Heavy equipment does not mean large equipment. It refers to the jobs that are being done. Simply put heavy equipment moves or transports materials from one area to another. It may be dirt, rocks or mulch.
The ability to maneuver the loader is much simpler than attempting to fit a dozer in a small space because of their size. Even though these machines are small, they can carry a heavy load. Industrial sized landscaping jobs can be easily done with a loader.
Operating a loader still requires training. Heavy equipment operation training is vital in the safe and effective operation of any machine including the loader. At Associated Training Services, you can become a qualified and certified operator in no time. Simply apply online to get started. If you have questions about the courses or school, see our website for more information or call us directly.

One of the mysteries of heavy equipment is the name given to a backhoe. After all, the ‘backhoe’ is just one half of the equipment, the other half being a standard loader. More interesting is the fact that the ‘backhoe’ sits at the rear of the equipment, and it’s the loader end that does most of the actual ‘driving’ around.

Putting the name issue aside, becoming a backhoe operator is a popular option for many because of the multiple skills involved, and the diversity that comes with a job. Effectively, you are trained as an excavator operator and loader operator. In fact, for many backhoe operators, those two pieces of heavy equipment are their fall back jobs should they find it difficult to find backhoe jobs.

In today’s climate, that is not a frequent problem. Many backhoe operators go to the next level becoming owner operators. Because of a backhoe’s versatility, there is always plenty of work available for owner operators, and the heavy equipment itself can be picked up at a reasonable price – certainly at a price that makes being an owner operator attractive.

To become a backhoe operator, you will need to complete a heavy equipment operator’s training program. This is a training program that exposes students to a range of heavy equipment, backhoes, loaders, and excavators included. A good heavy equipment training program will also include non-operational components such as soil knowledge, maintenance and fault finding, safety and site layouts. Those extra knowledge based areas are what makes for a well rounded heavy equipment operator.

At ATS Heavy Equipment Training Schools, our aim is to produce heavy equipment operator graduates who are ready to start work from day one. Our operators have the knowledge and skills to succeed, and employers acknowledge this by coming to us on a regular basis looking for good recruits. If you’re looking for a job with diversity, then operating a backhoe certainly delivers.

Winter is a testing time for many heavy equipment operators. It’s hard enough trying to work through frozen ground; operators often having to turn to specialized attachments such as rippers. The presence of snow and ice also makes the ground quite slippery and this can be of real concern when it comes to heavy equipment safety.

Here’s a fact that many people don’t realize – snow, especially compacted snow, is actually a lot heavier than dirt, even waterlogged dirt. This extra weight needs to be taken into account when working in these conditions – a loader may easily handle a bucket of dirt, but may struggle with a bucket of compacted snow (depending on the size and power of the loader of course). While working in freezing conditions is hard, that is just one of the difficulties operators encounter.

Most modern heavy equipment includes climate controlled operator cabs. This means an operator can work in conditions that are quite comfortable, temperature-wise. This can cause its own problems since an operator will find it difficult to relate to the cold external conditions – and cold does affect machinery.

For heavy equipment operators, special attention has to be paid to their equipment before they start work. Extreme overnight conditions can wreak havoc on their equipment, freezing pipelines, especially hydraulic lines, and, in some cases, creating problems with metal stress. Bulldozer and grader blades can often develop hairline cracks while excavator and backhoe operators often find that teeth on their excavating buckets are damaged.

Heavy equipment safety is an important issue in winter. Pre-start-up checks need to be thorough, and maintenance issues need to be dealt with immediately. Ideally, heavy equipment would be stored in a covered and heated environment each night in winter – that’s not practical in today’s world, so operators need to be particularly vigilant. While heavy equipment training can prepare future operators for these conditions, it takes hands on experience to really understand how trying winter can be to both man and beast.

The last twelve months seem to have been one of devastation when it comes to natural disasters. Turkey’s recent earthquake, those in New Zealand, the violent floods in Australia, and our problems with hurricanes, tornadoes and storms have all left their marks. When the frantic efforts of rescuers and home owners finally abates, everyone is left wondering about the rebuilding required. Invariably, the first workers called into these areas are the heavy equipment operators.

Bulldozers are generally the first called to action, leveling sites, clearing away the damage, and turning what was a scene of devastation into a clear plot of land ready for rebuilding. You will often see loaders, excavators and backhoes joining in; the loaders and backhoes filling dump trucks with debris while excavators help to pull down buildings and break up walls, floors and sometimes ceilings.

This can be dangerous work so operators need to be well trained highly experienced to work on these rebuilding projects. Our role as heavy equipment trainers is to prepare students for a career in heavy equipment that could one day see them involved in these projects. When training students, we pay special attention to workplace safety, first by ensuring our students are learning in a safe environment, and secondly, by passing on the necessary skills and knowledge required to work safely.

Training should also involve as much time as possible in the operator’s seat actually moving earth, not just practicing in the air. When a student graduates from a heavy equipment training school, they should be ready for entry level employment in the industry. ATS Heavy Equipment Training Schools has a reputation for providing industry with graduates who are work ready, who do have sound skills, and are trained to work safely. With a good grounding in heavy equipment operations, it doesn’t take long to build up the experience required to work on natural disaster rebuilding projects.

When looking at recent job vacancies for heavy equipment operators, one can’t help noticing that employers are looking for operators who can operate a wide range of equipment. It’s impossible to be trained on every piece of equipment in use; for example, how do you learn to operate a snow plow in the middle of summer? I guess you could go to Alaska.

In fact, no one expects operators to have had basic training on every piece of equipment. Rather, being trained to operate the basic equipment in use is what is important. You need to learn how to dig a trench (excavators, backhoes), how to move dirt (bulldozer, grader), and how to load trucks (loaders, backhoes). More importantly, and this is the real key to a successful career as a heavy equipment operator, to build confidence in your ability to handle that basic machinery.

Why? Almost every piece of heavy equipment in use is simply an offspring of one of those units. Back to the snow plow – it’s really a cross between a loader, grader and bulldozer (depending on the type of snow plow). If you have confidence operating that machinery, it’s a piece of cake hopping into another piece of machinery and becoming proficient in its use. You will most likely require a quick how-to on that new machinery, however, since the levers, pedals and controls are similar, you will pick it up quickly.

The moral here is simple. When undertaking heavy equipment training, don’t go to a training school where you are trained on only one piece of equipment. Attend a heavy equipment training school where you’ll be trained on a variety of heavy equipment. Your aim is to become a confident as possible on as many machines as possible. This will set you up for that successful career as a heavy equipment operator.

Heavy equipment is a field that involves a wide range of equipment. To be successful, operators need experience on more than one type of machine. With some equipment, the types of operations are very similar, it’s just the type of equipment that is different. The easiest machinery to see this in the backhoe and the loader and excavator.

It has often been said that if you can operate a backhoe successfully, you will have no trouble operating a loader or an excavator. In truth, each of these machines is decidedly different. However, they have enough similarities that if you were trained in each you would have no trouble swapping between them at a moment’s notice.

To say that a backhoe works in the same manner as an excavator is not quite right. Sure, knowledge of dirt and the way it reacts when working with either machine is the same, and the process of digging a trench is very similar. Backhoes are generally wheeled vehicles while excavators are normally driven on tracks (also known as continuous tracks or caterpillar tracks). Maneuvering each is very different, and often stabilizing is also different.

Loaders, too, are different compared to backhoes. While the process of moving dirt is very similar, loaders are often articulated while backhoes are normally one solid unit. Articulated requires different driving skills and maneuvering can be tricky if you haven’t had any experience.

While loaders and excavators are different than backhoes, the actual work involved is often very similar. Some employers prefer to use backhoes whilst other prefer two separate machines. What is important is to have heavy equipment training that exposes you to, and gives you, in-the-seat practice in all three machinery types. That will prepare you for a career where you can operate any one of those machines with confidence, and with skill.

No employer can afford to have idle employees. When it comes to construction, you have the added problem then of idle heavy equipment. In today’s business environment, construction companies want to gain the maximum out of both their equipment and their employees. To deliver maximum earning potential, operators and their heavy equipment are scheduled to fairly fine time lines, a factor that heavy equipment operators always have at the back of their minds.

If you were to look at a typical construction project, a construction company may schedule a bulldozer and operator to work for a set period of time. A loader and dump truck may be called in at some stage to remove the waste that the bulldozer has removed. As soon as the bulldozer work is done, it will be sent off with its operator to another job.

In the meantime, a backhoe or excavator may come onto the site to dig foundations, or in the case of road construction, a grader may be called to do its work. Again, support heavy equipment such as loaders and dump trucks may be scheduled. For roads, rollers and hot mix units will be scheduled to begin their work on certain days. For a building that has had foundations dug, the day for pouring cement will already be scheduled.

As a heavy equipment operator, you need to be aware of your place in this scheduling arrangement and the importance of completing work according to a schedule. Although you may be operating one piece of machinery, you are a part of a large team, a team that has one goal, getting the job done on time. By completing work on time, the construction company maintains a reputation for reliability and thus is able to contract ongoing work – ongoing work that keep you, the heavy equipment operator in work.

Heavy equipment training can provide the skills to get a job done on time – only you can deliver the commitment that sees a team complete a job on time. If you can work to a schedule, enjoy working as part of a large team, and enjoy working in the outdoors, then perhaps heavy equipment is a career worth considering.

Backhoes are one of the strangest looking vehicles in a construction yard. They always remind me a little of a scorpion, sitting there with a stinger folded back behind them. What a backhoe offers to an operator is the combined capabilities of a front-end loader and an excavator – all in the one vehicle.

For operators who have been trained in the right environment, there is a good chance they will be skilled in all three machines. This adds a broader range of machinery to their employment options and can make a difference between being in work and having days or weeks between jobs. Being multi-skilled can make a huge difference to an operator’s career.

ATS Heavy Equipment Training Schools offer students experience in a variety of heavy equipment including backhoes, loaders, and excavators. When a student graduates, they can choose whichever path best suits their skills (and ideals) – or they can choose to follow the multi-skilled path operating a variety of equipment.

Longer term, the two most popular vehicles chosen by operators when starting their own business is the backhoe and the loader. Of course, cost plays a big role in this decision with these two vehicles often being the lowest price in the heavy equipment field. However, bulldozers come in a close third, and they are not exactly inexpensive to acquire.

Backhoes really do bring together the best of loaders and excavators. At the same time, backhoes have challenges of their own for operators to navigate. The next time you look at a backhoe, don’t look at it as being a cut down version of a loader and excavator. They are vehicles that have a real life of their own – and in today’s construction industry, a very important role.

You can go and learn to be a backhoe operator, or you can go and learn how to be a bulldozer operator, but what if I told you could learn to be both in one training program? In today’s world, being multi-skilled is a must. When it comes to heavy equipment, if you can operate a front end loader and an excavator, then you can most likely operate a backhoe as well.

What’s more important is that today’s world is changing quite quickly. Today, there may be a high demand for grader operators; next month, it could be excavator operators; in winter, the demand could be for bulldozer operators that can also handle a snow plow. What we do know is that demand for heavy equipment operators is growing – the demand for each type of machinery will depend largely on what direction new operators take. If you are a multi-skilled heavy equipment operator – you can follow the winds of change to what best suits you.

Rather than undertaking equipment-specific training, finding a training organization that delivers training across a range of heavy equipment makes logical long term sense. Your training provides the platform for you to become a general heavy equipment operator rather than the narrow single equipment operator.

ATS Heavy Equipment Training Schools provide training on a range of equipment such as backhoes, graders, loaders, bulldozers, and excavators (just to name a few). Training includes both in-class theory and safety aspects along with in-the-cab actual operator experience of a range of equipment. This prepares you to either specialize in one area, if that’s your decision, or to become a general operator across a range of heavy equipment.

Heavy equipment – the term conjures up images of big bulldozers, excavators, and perhaps even backhoes or loaders. You need to be big, strong, and tough to operate this equipment, so women are going to struggle – right? Wrong, wrong, and wrong. You don’t need to be big; you don’t need to be tough; and women are certainly not going to struggle when it comes to operating this machinery.

The fact is, there are hundreds of women operating heavy equipment – perhaps more. If you include truck drivers, then you can certainly start to number them in the thousands. It’s still not enough. Women have proven to be very good operators, especially when it comes to tasks that require attention to detail. Heavy equipment used to be a man’s world, but today’s technology means that almost anyone can operate them.

Can a woman make a successful career as a heavy equipment operator? Many have and they thoroughly enjoy the work. Perhaps there’s a little something about stepping into that ‘men’s world’ that appeals. It could be that many of these women have been fascinated by heavy equipment since childhood. It doesn’t really matter. If you are a woman and you are looking for a challenging career, working outdoors, and controlling heavy equipment like bulldozers or excavators, then a heavy equipment career is right for you.

When it comes to gaining employment, your search starts by undertaking heavy equipment training. If you undertake your training through ATS Heavy Equipment Training Schools, then you will not only receive well-recognized training, we’ll help you find that first job – a job that will start you on the path to a career as a heavy equipment operator. Don’t let anyone tell you a woman can’t do the job – they can, and are, successfully – and so can you.