Heavy equipment operator
 Harvester operator | |
| Occupation | |
|---|---|
Occupation type | Vocation |
Activity sectors | Construction |
| Description | |
Fields of employment | construction |
Related jobs | excavator operator, Driver |
A heavy equipment operator operates heavy equipment used in engineering and construction projects.[1][2] Typically only skilled workers may operate heavy equipment, and there is specialized training for learning to use heavy equipment.
Operator training
[edit]Various organizations set standards for training for heavy equipment operators. Such organizations typically offer what in the US is called "effective safety training". Specific organizations include the following:
- United States
- Canada
Safety
[edit]Much publication about heavy equipment operators focuses on improving safety for such workers. The occupational medicine field researches and makes recommendations about safety for these and other workers in safety-sensitive positions. Hand signals are also important for machinery operators as it facilitates visual aid for safe work in spite of factors such as noise and a crowded environment.[3]
Notable heavy equipment operators
[edit]- Mack Ray Edwards (1918–1971), child sex abuser/serial killer; buried victims at his construction sites; committed suicide by hanging in his prison cell
Types
[edit]These subdivisions, in this order, are the standard heavy equipment categorization.
Tractor
- Bulldozer (dozer, track dozer)
- Combine harvester
- Snowcat
- Snowplow
- Skidder
- Tractor (wheel tractor)
- Tracked tractor
- Locomotive
- Artillery tractor
- Crawler-transporter
- Military engineering vehicles
Grader
Excavator
- Amphibious excavator
- Compact excavator
- Dragline excavator
- Dredger
- Bucket-wheel excavator
- Excavator (digger)
- Long reach excavator
- Power shovel
- Reclaimer
- Suction excavator
- Walking excavator
- Trencher
- Yarder
Backhoe
Timber
- Feller buncher
- Harvester
- Forwarder
- Skidder
- Power saw
- Stump grinder
- Track harvester
- Wheel forwarder
- Wheel skidder
- Logging truck
Pipelayer
Scraper
- Fresno scraper
- Scraper
- Wheel tractor-scraper (belly scraper)
Mining
- Construction and mining tractor
- Construction and mining truck
- Dumper
- Dump truck
- Haul truck
- Mining equipment
Articulated
Compactor
- Wheel dozer (soil compactor)
- Soil stabilizer
Loader
- Loader (payloader, front loader, wheel loader, integrated tool carrier)
- Skip loader (skippy)
Track loader
Skid-steer loader
Material handler
- Aerial work platform, Lift table
- Crane
- Block-setting crane
- Bulk-handling crane
- Crane vessel
- Aerial crane
- Container crane
- Gantry crane
- Overhead crane
- Electric overhead traveling crane
- Ring crane
- Level luffing crane
- Mobile crane
- Travel lift
- Forklift
- Garbage truck
- Grapple truck, Knuckleboom loader (trailer mount)
- Straddle carrier
- Sidelifter
- Reach stacker
- Telescopic handlers
- Tow truck
Paving
- Asphalt paver
- Asphalt plant
- Cold planer
- Cure rig
- Paver
- Pavement milling
- Pneumatic tire compactor
- Roller (road roller, roller compactor)
- Slipform paver
- Vibratory compactor, Compactor
Underground
Hydromatic tool
- Ballast tamper
- Attachments
- Drilling rig
- Horizontal directional drilling
- Earth auger
- Pile driver
- Post pounder
- Rotary tiller (rototiller, rotovator)
Highway
- Tractor unit
- Ballast tractor
- Pushback tractor
- Railcar mover
- Highway 10 yard rear dump
- Highway bottom dump (stiff), pup (belly train), triple
- Highway end dump and side dump
- Highway transfer, Transfer train
- Concrete mixer
- Concrete mix truck
- Concrete mix dozer
- Lowboy (trailer)
- Street sweeper
- Street sweep truck
- Street sweep dozer
See also
[edit]- Apprenticeship
- Benjamin Holt
- Construction Equipment (magazine)
- Construction worker
- Hydraulic machinery
- International Union of Operating Engineers
- List of construction trades
References
[edit]- ^ "Construction Equipment Operators : Occupational Outlook Handbook: : U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics". www.bls.gov. Retrieved 2022-10-28.
- ^ V. J. Davies, Ken Tomasin (1996). Construction Safety Handbook. Thomas Telford. ISBN 0-7277-2519-X.
- ^ "Crane Hand Signals: Vital for Construction Safety". Al Marwan Heavy Machinery. Retrieved 2024-05-27.
External links
[edit]
Media related to Heavy equipment operator at Wikimedia Commons
