Ever wonder how a road is made flat when cruising through a hilly area? Or, ask yourself why we do not generally see large puddles on the highway? The answer to both of these questions is the road or motor grader and a well trained road grader operator. This piece of equipment can be used in the maintenance of unpaved roads, but its main purpose is roadwork and flattening a path. It smoothes the roadway prior to asphalt being poured, and it can be used to put a slight slope on highways to ensure the water runs off the road eliminating puddles that can result in cars hydroplaning.

Although not as well known as the bulldozer and dump truck, the road grader is an essential piece of the roadwork operations. As a result, being trained to operate one in a hands-on training environment is crucial to maneuvering these huge pieces of machinery effectively and safely. A good heavy equipment operator course will include training on road / motor graders to ensure capable operators are heading out to the worksites.

Ensuring the heavy equipment training program that is chosen includes many different pieces of equipment of the utmost importance. This is true because employers will not only look at the equipment that has been trained on, but also, they will look at the quality of the school that did the training. Employers want only the best trained workers who will be the most effective and safety conscious people on their site. Road graders may not be the most glamorous of the heavy equipment machines, but they are a very important one for road crews. Quality trained road grader operators are always in high demand, as roads are constantly being built and or maintained.

There are many professions that rely on a range of senses. Cooks are the most obvious – they rely on eyes, ears, their noses, a sense of touch and, ultimately, their sense of taste. Heavy equipment operators also rely on a range of senses and it can be a difficult area to train novices in. When it comes to road grader operators, the best way to learn to use these senses is through hands-on-training, and by ongoing experience. So which senses play a major role in operating a road grader?

• Eyes – Eyes are an obvious area and while spectacles are not really a problem, keeping them up-to-date with your eyesight is. Road grader operators need to be able to precisely follow a range of signs or signals to ensure they are grading at the right angle and height.
• Touch – If you are an experienced car driver, then you’ll know what I mean when I say you can ‘feel’ so much through your vehicle’s controls. The same is true for a road grader operator. That sense of touch can tell when a grader is cutting too deeply, or meeting more resistance than expected.
• Ears – Like the sense of touch, your ears can tell you what is happening with the motor. You experience the same with a manual shift car, changing gears when you hear the motor reaching the right revs. With a road grader, a change in revs can mean the grader is starting to struggle, or is operating smoothly.
• Nose – While not as important as the other senses, the nose will warn you of any problems related to your road grader. A sudden smell of smoke, oil, or fuel can be an early warning to a major problem.

While computers are starting to play an important role in the operation of a road grader, there’s no denying that those senses becomes an operators best friend. Learn to develop those senses while operating a road grader and you’ll quickly rise to become a fine grader, these are the finishing operators that work to very fine measurements – and the operators that draw the best pay checks. It all starts by learning to operate a road grader – from there, you’ll quickly develop those senses to become an effective operator.