Recent reports indicate that the construction industry is in dire need of skilled laborers. Here is a closer look at what makes skilled workers and the skills that are needed to be a skilled worker in the construction industry.

There are many must-have construction skills. To succeed you must have the following capabilities:

• Physical strength and stamina
• Manual dexterity and coordination
• Strong reading and math skills
• Building and mechanical knowledge
• Excellent vision and depth perception

If you are a skilled worker, you will have no trouble finding employment in the construction industry. With the proper training, you can gain the skills that the field demands, and you can also get the safety training needed to protect you – and others – while on the job.

By learning how to do your job safely and how to operate the tools of the trade, you are improving your job opportunities. Also, crane operators and other heavy equipment operators are in demand in the construction industry.

Associated Training Services (ATS) has been helping construction workers get the training they need to succeed since 1959. There are specialized training programs available as well as heavy equipment, crane, rigging/signalperson, tower crane, commercial truck driving, digger derrick, and directional drilling training programs available.

Call (800) 383-7364 to discuss your training needs and to learn more about the programs we have available. We are accredited, and financial aid is available.

Sometimes we downplay the role of excavators and their work digging trenches. After all, digging trenches doesn’t really sound interesting. Mining, demolition and other jobs can sound far more interesting; however, there is no denying the important role that excavators play in servicing our nation. Today, when a new housing estate is being built, most of the services to each home are there because of the work of an excavator.

Waste water leaving the home; fresh water, electricity and telephone going in to the home; they are all provided using below ground connections. Those below ground connections are there because of the expert work undertaken by excavator operators. If you think about it, digging trenches is more than just digging a hole. The trench needs to be accurately dug so that all connections meet where the plans indicate. If they don’t, repairers will have problems in years to come, locating the pipes when required.

Trenches for waste water, fresh water and electricity (and often gas) are normally dug at different levels. Working as an excavator operator means you need to work as part of a team, be able to read and follow plans, and be able to operate with precision. This requires skills and experience. However, all excavators start somewhere and that is where heavy equipment training plays its role.

By undertaking a professional heavy equipment training program you develop a set of basic skills that enable you to work as an excavator operator. Over time, you will develop skills in certain tasks to the point you could be called an expert. This may well be digging trenches and helping to deliver services to our new homes. Excavator operators – without them our housing would develop at a snail’s pace!

Whether you are digging through topsoil, sand, clay or rock, the machine of choice generally is an excavator. However, employers don’t stay in business for long if they don’t make the right decisions. When it comes to digging holes, you need good operators and the right tools. When it comes to excavators, a good operator will struggle if required to use the wrong tools; having said that, having all the right tools won’t make a poor operator look good either.

Sourcing the right tools is the easy part. In fact the hardest part is probably sourcing the finance to pay for the tools. Excavators are certainly not cheap machinery, and that’s for a basic excavator. Once you start adding the various attachments, you are looking at a huge investment, an investment the business relies on to succeed.

With that in mind, businesses have an even tougher job; finding the right operator for their business and equipment. With so much money invested in equipment, the last thing the business needs is a poor operator who causes more damage than good. The longer a machine is ‘off the job’, the more money it is costing the business.

Good operators are not that scarce. It is finding them that can be difficult. Over time businesses develop a system, a system that often involves networking and word-of-mouth referrals. Training providers such as ATS Heavy Equipment Operator Schools are often asked for referrals of their good students. Why? Because they have built a sound reputation for providing skilled graduates who are ready to work.

If you are seeking a career as an excavator operator then gain your skills through a training provider that is highly regarded throughout the industry.

If you were to place a bulldozer and road grader side-by-side you would have to admit they were completely different machines. About the only similarity between the two is they both have blades. The bulldozer’s blade is front and center whilst the road grader’s blade is somewhat smaller in height, often wider, and slung under the machine. Looking at them, you would imagine they would do completely different types of work.

That was true several years ago. The bulldozer was the ‘bull’ of a construction site. Its job was to virtually tear everything up and leave the area relatively flat. The grader’s job was then to come in and do all the fine work to exact measurements.

As Bob Dylan once sang, ‘times they are a changing’. With the inception of modern technology such as GPS and laser leveling, bulldozers can now do many of the tasks often left to the road graders. Modern technology can now do wonders – in this case, taking a big powerful brute of a machine and turning it into a gentle machine that do a lot of the fine tuning once the domain of a road grader.

This doesn’t mean that road graders are now defunct. One of the reasons that laser leveling was introduced was to ease the load on road graders. They can now be left to perform the final finishing touches to a new road – the real ‘grading’ needed before the hard surface is laid.

What does this mean when it comes to employment opportunities and training? First, it reinforces the need to undertake training that includes experience on a variety of equipment. Secondly, it lifts the skill levels of operators. Bulldozer operators need to learn to use laser leveling and the art of grading using a dozer blade, whilst road grader operators need to hone their skills in the area of fine or finishing grading. It all comes back to training. Your heavy equipment training should include experience on both bulldozers and road graders – that will set you up to perform either role with ease.

If you are looking for the one piece of machinery that is the backbone of any construction site, it would have to be the humble dump truck. Yet, as children, it is probably one of the first construction toys we have. Most kids grow up with access to either a pile of sand or a piece of dirt to play in. With it comes the little (and later, not so little) dump truck. It all looked easy – fill the dumper with sand, move it to where it you wanted the sand, and dump it.

Over time the novelty of dumping sand or dirt wore off. It is more fun digging with either a little spade or a bulldozer, excavator or loader. The fascination for digging machines over the dump truck often extends into adult life. There are certainly more people working on heavy equipment that as dump truck drivers. Like all under appreciated equipment, they really are the backbone of a construction site.

If you look at what sort of work they do, it goes far beyond just carting and dumping sand. There is a wide range of building materials that dump trucks help to transport – and that is before or during construction. They are also called upon to dump the material not needed on the construction site. This could range from large boulders to dirt that has been dug up and is not required. Dump trucks also play their role in the post construction cleanup being used to cart away excess building materials.

There is now a national call to increase the number of skilled operators when it comes to construction machinery. This includes operators such as dump truck operators. If operating one of construction’s most important pieces of machinery appeals to you then do a little research to find out whether or not you could undergo truck driver training to help you get a start in a rewarding career.

The National Commission for the Certification of Crane Operators (NCCCO) is responsible for setting the minimum requirements that must be met to become a certified crane operator. Their certificate, the NCCCO crane operator certification, is one of the most widely recognized crane operator certifications in the crane operator industry.

In many states it is now mandatory to be certified before you can be employed as a crane operator. It makes sense then if you are looking at crane operations as a career, that you receive your training, assessment and certification through the one training school. These schools have all been assessed and accredited based on minimum and exacting standards themselves. This means you can be confident the training you are receiving is top quality and the certification you receive is well recognized by industry leaders – your potential future employers.

ATS Heavy Equipment Operator Schools deliver high quality training on both fixed cab and swing cab
mobile hydraulic cranes. Our training has been assessed by the NCCCO and meets their stringent criteria for the delivery of quality training.

ATS has also been approved by the NCCCO as a test site for both the NCCCO written and NCCCO practical exams for fixed and swing cab crane operators. For you as a potential crane operator, you can receive your comprehensive training to become a crane operator, undertake both the written and practical assessments and be certified as a crane operator – essentially, all under the one roof.

Skilled and certified crane operators are always in demand. They are also one of the highest paid heavy equipment operators in the industry so if you feel this a career for you – go to our online registration page and register your interest in becomes a certified crane operator.

Most people’s concept of a heavy equipment operator is someone who is overweight and sits in a cab all day pulling levers and pushing pedals. When it comes to considering a career, that’s it. Nothing could be further from the truth. It actually takes a level of fitness to operate heavy equipment, particularly some of the older models where you have wrestle with the controls all day.

Is there a career path? The field of heavy equipment operations s no different to hundreds of other occupations – it is what you make of it. If you want a career with advancement opportunities then you need to work towards it.

As a heavy equipment operator your career options are varied. You could aspire to being a team leader or crew boss. In this role you are responsible for the allocation of tasks and the ongoing management of those tasks ensuring that jobs are done in the right order. Highway construction crews always have someone who is in charge of the equipment – you may hear the referred to as a foreman.

Training is another area that could be considered. The heavy equipment training industry is always looking for skilled operators with good communication and people skills. At ATS Heavy Equipment Operator Schools we rely on the experience and skills of trainers to produce skilled operators for the industry.

Many individuals start as operators before undertaking further training to become mechanics skilled in the maintenance and repair of heavy equipment. Others become specialized in electrics or hydraulics.

The ultimate is to either become a construction site manager, or to become a business owner. Some operators eventually buy their own machinery and contract out their skills. Over time they add more heavy equipment along with the operators to satisfy the demand for their services.

There are career paths in all industries including heavy equipment. You can simply be an operator, and there is nothing wrong with that; or you can aspire to other positions within the industry. It’s your future and it’s your career – go for it.