Many people think heavy equipment operators do one thing – and that is operate heavy equipment. But a heavy equipment operator must do much more. In order to do his or her job properly, he or she must be able to do grade reading and site layout.

Grade reading is very important because the ground will not be the same as it was when you started working on it when you get finished with the job. The site layout is important because you might think your machine or heavy equipment will fit into an area so you can do the job, but it doesn’t fit there. You must be ready to come up with an alternative plan so you can still get the job done as it needs to be done.

The Proper Training For Operators

If you plan on operating heavy equipment, you must undergo extensive training. That training should include much more than just learning to operate the machine. If your goal is a career as a heavy equipment operator, you need to learn all the extra information that is required to do your job efficiently and effectively.

Construction Grade Reading

Architects indicate elevations for grades on a site plan by establishing an existing reference point that should remain undisturbed during the construction process. This reference point is called the benchmark. The benchmark might be a steel stake in the ground or a sidewalk. All other elevations are calculated in relation to the benchmark.

For construction workers to find this information helpful, the decimal is usually converted to inches from 1/100s of a foot. Subtract the elevation that is being sought from the elevation of the benchmark. Negative values indicate that the elevation is higher than the benchmark. For example, if you have a benchmark at 100 feet and the grade elevation is set at 101.50, the difference would be -1.50 which makes the elevation one-and-a-half feet above the benchmark.

Heavy Equipment Training

If you are looking for a career as a heavy equipment operator, Associated Training Services (ATS) offers complete training that includes:

• Machine operation
• Grade reading
• Site layouts
• Safety procedures
• Heavy equipment maintenance
• Soil identification
• Laser levels
• And more

Call us today to learn about our programs.

In one sense, it sort of sounds like a heavy equipment operator does just one thing: operate a big machine. But there’s a lot more to heavy equipment operation than being at the controls of a bulldozer or anything like it. In order to be a good operator, you need to be able to do things like this:

• Grade Reading — because the way the ground is now is not the way it should be when you are finished
• Soil Identification — because dirt does not act the same all the time
• Site Layout — because your machine might not fit where you thought it would
• Laser Levels — because it’s easy to get cockeyed
• Safety Procedures — because you work with other people and everybody wants to go home tonight
• Heavy Equipment Maintenance — because your machine isn’t magic

Heavy Equipment Operator Training has to include far more than simply learning to work the machine because your goal is a career, not a ride. All the extra stuff that is part of earthmoving and excavation is included in the studies at ATS Heavy Equipment Operator Training School because it’s part of the job. You’ll learn how to work with a crew on different types of equipment and different types of job sites because the real heavy equipment jobs are in new places all the time.

When you are operating heavy equipment, usually the job site is changing as you work. You can’t assume things will be the same way they were yesterday and you have to be able to assess what’s happening now. We do our best to get you prepared for the real world of heavy equipment and a fulfilling career.

One of the most important tasks on the work site is grade reading. If you are going to be working on an incline, or smoothing sloped roads and such, then you’ll need to learn how to read grades. There are two ways to calculate a slope. You can use a gradient measure communicated as a percentage or express it as an angle of the slope.

Grades, or slopes, can be measured for any type of terrain: roads, canyons, hillsides, river banks, railroads, or any terrain feature with a slope.

You should imagine the terrain feature as a triangle. You have a distance, called the run, and an angle, called the rise. To figure the percentage of the grade for a road, railroad, or other motorway, you calculate the percentage of the rise over the run multiplied by 100.

So if your run is 100 feet and your rise is 2 feet over the course of that 100 feet, then your slope is 2%.

You’ll learn all about grade reading in heavy equipment school. Your instructor will break it down for you and give you plenty of practical experience in reading and calculating grades so that when you get your first job you are so practiced you can do it without thinking about it. You’ll have no problem getting your first heavy equipment job if you learn the skills necessary to keep you employed once you get there.