Heavy Equipment Operation
Move earth and lift loads. Intro to operating heavy equipment: the role, machines, safety, and certification/career path.
1. Introduction, Safety & Career
beginnerAn introduction to the heavy equipment operation trade: what operators do and where they work, the machines and what each one is for, pre-shift inspection and load charts, grade work and utility locates, the hazards and the OSHA rules that control them, and the certifications and career path.
2. Earthwork Field Practice: Grade Control, Mass Haul, Compaction & Trench Safety
intermediateThe second heavy equipment course, for operators and crew leads who already know the machines and want to run earthwork well: reading the grading plan and the staking system, setting up and verifying GPS machine control, cut and fill with swell and shrink and the mass haul plan, compaction specifications and field density testing, the competent person's job under OSHA 1926 Subpart P with soil classification and trench shoring, and choosing equipment, estimating production, and keeping the iron running.