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.

A certified rigger is a worker who has undergone the proper training to become certified to move loads. The specific certification level depends on the individual’s training, knowledge, experience, skill base, and ability to handle functions that pertain to the proper selection, use, and inspection of rigging equipment.

A rigger is a skilled worker who specializes in the lifting, landing, and assembly of heavy or large objects. The task often requires the help of a block and tackle and pulley, crane, derrick, chain hoists, or capstan winch. Riggers are needed for a variety of building and construction projects, so it is a role that is in high demand.

Riggers work in various roles, including construction and shipbuilding. Vacancies in the construction field for riggers have increased by 9.46 percent across the U.S., and there is an average growth of 1.58 percent in the field per year, which means that there is a need for trained rigging professionals. According to recruiter.com, the average salary of a rigger is $43,500 per year. Those who work in professional, scientific, and technical services are paid somewhat more, averaging $62,680 per year for their services.

Rigger Certificate Training

To become certified so you can seek employment as a rigger, you will need to go to an established school where you can receive professional training. Associated Training Services (ATS) includes heavy equipment operation, trucking, mobile crane operation, and rigger/signalperson certification. ATS has an OSHA-compliant rigger training program that provides students with the optimal level of expert instruction, and practical and written testing.

With the ATS rigger training program, you will become qualified to be certified with the new OSHA crane mandate while having the skills that you need to perform rigging tasks. You will have the knowledge, the skills, and the capabilities to handle the job safely and help protect other workers from being injured while you are performing your job duties. To learn more about ATS Training programs, please call (800) 383-7364 today.

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.

There are times when a heavy equipment company must look at the painful reality of needing some specialized training before that company can be competitive. Whether that specialized training is needed for a few of your staff or an entire crew, ATS Specialized Training is designed to help you meet the challenge.

Associated Training Services can design the perfect training program that meets all the various requirements. Legalities, changing industry standards, unique operating environments, and customer requests all can be addressed by our instructors while maintaining the highest standards of quality and integrity.

These classes can be held at the Sun Prairie, Wisconsin location or at remote sites all over the country. Beginner-level or customized training can be provided in these areas and more:

• NCCCO Crane Operator Training, Testing, and Certification.
• NCCCO Rigger-1 & Signalperson 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.
• Credentials.

ATS is a nationally accredited, family-owned, private vocational school that has been providing professional training for over five decades. As the industries have changed, we have kept up with the changes. That means we can help you make the changes that keep your company competitive.

Enhance the safety consciousness of your workforce and increase productivity while fulfilling regulatory or insurance requirements by letting ATS provide specialized training. We cover a broad spectrum of subjects relating to the heavy equipment field and more.

There’s no law that limits you to how much career training or jobs you can receive. A general rule of thumb is this: The more you know and the more you can do, the more valuable you’ll be to potential employers. For that reason, we recommend training on as many different types of heavy equipment as possible.

In the Heavy Equipment School basic course, you’ll be trained to operate the following equipment as a matter of course:

• Backhoes
• Front end loaders
• Wheel Loaders
• Skid steers
• Scrapers
• Bulldozers
• Road graders
• Excavators
• All-terrain forklifts
• Articulated haul trucks

You’ll also learn valuable and useful skills such as grade reading, soil identification, laser levels, worksite safety, reading site layouts, and basic heavy equipment maintenance. We won’t leave anything to chance. Your education will set the course of your heavy equipment career, so we take it seriously.

How to Get a Leg Up With Employers

Learning how to operate the basic heavy equipment you’ll see on most construction sites is the best way to get a foot in the door of a heavy equipment career, but going beyond that will enhance your career prospects and make you more employable. You’ll also earn more once you are on the payroll. That’s why we recommend the following training courses, as well:

• Mobile crane operations
• Truck Driving
• Rigging/Signalpersons training

With each of these specialized training courses, you’ll be certified to work in the heavy equipment industry as you learn important skills from the best instructors in the business. The sooner you enroll in training, the sooner you’ll be employable and make good money in a heavy equipment career.

One of the most important jobs on the construction work site is that of a rigger. The rigger is responsible for the safety of personnel working on the site, especially mobile crane operations. But they are subject to regulation and the regulatory authority for riggers is OSHA, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

The Heavy Equipment School Rigging/Signalperson training program will prepare you to be a world-class rigger and pass all certification tests and safety requirements of OSHA. We have the best program in the industry.

So what makes it such a good training program? All of the below:

• It meets and exceeds the OSHA qualification standards for rigger and signalperson training
• You’ll receive written and practical training and testing on those standards
• The qualification program offers 8 to 12 hours of instruction, depending on the number of students in class
• The certification program offers a 4-day intensive of 32 to 36 hours, again depending on the number of students in the program
• All graduating students will receive a qualification compliance card upon successful completion of the Rigger/Signalperson Qualification Program
• Students graduating from the Rigger/Signalperson Certification Program will be certified by the National Commission for Certification of Crane Operators

Associated Training Services (ATS) offers several ways to take this training. You can come to us and be trained in our world-class facilities, or, if your company is certifying several riggers and signalpersons at once, then we’ll arrange to come to your work site and administer the training.

OSHA standards are tough, but they are necessary for a safe work site. ATS is committed to training riggers and signalpersons in the latest qualification and certification standards for crane operations.

Who are world-class Riggers are important people on the work site? Often employed in shipping yards, loading docks, construction sites, industrial warehouses, transportation depots, and other places where extraordinarily large and heavy objects or machines need to be lifted and moved from one place to another, riggers are responsible for much of the movement of consumer goods in the world.

We’re not talking about moving a piano here. We’re talking about moving huge pallets of pianos, computers, or other goods all at once. Heavy stuff.

Typically, riggers operate the machinery, hoists, pulleys, and ropes–and are responsible for their safe “rigging”–that lift and move material that ways thousands or millions of pounds. Huge, heavy stuff.

World-Class Rigger Steps

If you want to be a rigger and enjoy a long career in industry, you’ll need to seek OSHA-compliant training. You won’t get hired by the best employers in the workplace if you aren’t trained by the best schools. So here’s how you become a world-class rigger.

1. Sign up for rigger training at an approved heavy equipment school
2. Complete and graduate from your rigger training
3. Take the rigger certification exam
4. Receive your qualification card

Once you’ve been trained and qualified as a rigger, you can then begin to seek employment. Associated Training Services will assist you in finding your first job as a world-class rigger. In fact, we’ll not only feed your job leads, but we’ll train you on the soft skills you need to land job interviews and ace them. You’ll be gainfully employed and upwardly mobile before you know it.

When you see a huge crane safely performing a tricky job, one of the people responsible for that job’s success is the rigger. Here’s a short list of what the rigger does:

• has been OSHA certified or qualified according to the job needed
• figures out the weight and center of gravity of the load
• chooses the proper sling and makes sure it is in good shape
• checks fittings, clips and other hardware for adequacy
• keeps track of the distance from any possible overhead hazards, like power lines
• understands the weather conditions and when to call the job off for unsafe conditions
• acts as outside eyes and ears for the crane operator

Riggers and signalpersons are essential people on the job site. Their training and qualifications need to be top-notch, and their responsibility to do their job needs to be taken very seriously. Each thing on this short list of what a rigger does is an important thing, one that can make the difference between a good day at work or a trip to the emergency room, or worse. Even if nobody gets hurt, a slipped load means complications for getting the job done by deadline.

ATS Heavy Equipment Operator Training School is one of the best places in the world to get OSHA-compliant rigger/signalperson training. We have over 45 years of experience in training heavy equipment and mobile crane operators and work hard to provide comprehensive safety training for this job, as well. You’ll get expert instruction from the best rigger and signal training instructors in the industry as you prepare for your written and practical certification tests.

OSHA, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, have a lot of rules and regulations in their arsenal. And you know what? Every single one of those rules and regulations is the result of trying to avoid an ugly thing: death and destruction to workers. Those regulations are like links in a chain – each one is ineffective on its own, but they combine to be strong.

Professional rigger / signalperson training is one of those essential links in your safety chain because your riggers and your signalers are performing basic safety procedures affecting every aspect of the job. If the load isn’t rigged right, accidents are inevitable. If the communication isn’t happening, accidents are inevitable. This job is one that truly merits comprehensive training so that everybody on site stays alive and whole.

Associated Training Services (ATS) provides that comprehensive training. We think it’s the best in the world! All the experience of 45 years combined with the best rigger and signal training instructors in the industry to get our students ready for both written and practical OSHA certification tests.

ATS offers two levels of training in this important field:

1. Rigging/Signalperson Qualification
2. Rigging/Signalperson Certification

Both programs emphasize OSHA safety compliance and ensure basic skills, knowledge of rigging and signal use, and teach the latest OSHA regulations. ATS will even come to a company’s work site and train personnel in the classroom with written materials, including testing and practical instruction in both levels of certification.

The difference between our two types of programs is simple. Those completing the Qualification Program have from 8 to 12 hours of rigging/signalperson instruction, written curricula & testing, practical training & exam, and are issued a qualification compliance card at the completion of the course showing they meet all OSHA qualification standards.

The students in the Rigging/Signalperson Certification Program have gone through 4 days of training (32-36 hours), all the classroom and practical training and examinations, and exceed OSHA qualification standards for rigging/signalperson training. Successful completion results in NCCCO Rigging Level One and NCCCO Signalperson Certifications.

Both levels of training are going to meet the safety standards you want on site. Associated Training Services can provide what you need to keep your safety chain strong in our OSHA Qualified Rigging / Signalperson Training.

One of the keys to happiness is being in the right career that you love. Poll enough people and you’ll discover that the people who are the happiest in life have a few things going for them. One of those things is that they are working in a career that is suited for them. Truck drivers are no different.

If you have a desire to be a truck driver, why not start right now? Associated Training Services offers truck driver training, and we have a few classes opening up soon.

Maybe you don’t want to be a truck driver. Perhaps you’d prefer to be a crane operator or a rigger. That’s fine. We have training classes for those occupations too.

The heavy equipment profession is one of the most lucrative non-degreed occupations in the world. It’s a highly specialized field that requires the proper training in safety and behind-the-wheel practical training in order to ensure that the workers let loose on the job site are qualified and certified for the job. Whether you desire to operate bulldozers, forklifts, cranes, dump trucks, or something in between, it all starts with training.

Now that the New Year is here, why not evaluate your career goals? Are you ready for a change? Do you think you’d enjoy the heavy equipment field? Then look into the training necessary to build a successful career as a heavy equipment operator.