Stand Up For Skilled Trades
Sometimes the skilled trades, like heavy equipment operation, seem like an invisible career. The only guy who seems to be famous and blue-collar is Mike Rowe, the guy who has…
3 Dollars A Day And A Shovel In 1854
On February 15, 1854, an engineering marvel was opened: The Horseshoe Curve in the Allegheny Mountains of Pennsylvania. This piece of railroad track meant that travelers between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh could…
Grader Operator – Making The Grade
One of the essential pieces of heavy equipment in most municipalities is a motor-grader. The grader operator operates a long blade that is dragged along the surface of a gravel…
Don’t Navigate Financial Aid Alone
It is definitely overwhelming to look at all the financial aid stuff, right? There are a lot of long forms to fill out, and the nagging suspicion you might miss…
9 Reasons To Choose ATS
If you are doing research about getting trained as a professional heavy equipment operator, it's a good thing. Choosing a career in the skilled trades means that your training is…
Less Training Results In More Accidents
Why have there been so many construction accidents in the past few years? A recent article on Equipment World's site by Wayne Grayson takes a look at the problem. OSHA official:…
The NCCCO Advantage
The National Center for Construction Education & Research (NCCER) and the National Commission for the Certification of Crane Operators (NCCCO) are the credentialing organizations that gives Associated Training Services (ATS)…
Be The Best Rigger/Signalperson
Every rigger/signalperson has to be certified. That's a federal regulation from OSHA and most insurance companies have been insisting on it too. It just makes sense that this vital job…
Be A Crane Operator And Operations
One of the heavy equipment jobs that almost always is on the top of the pay scale is the crane operations. There's a lot that only a crane can do,…
Excavator Mistakes Start Here
There are a lot of ways an excavator operator can get into trouble and make mistakes. Some of them are dangerous, like undercutting your machine when digging a trench, or…