Some of us don’t think much about it until we start to build a new building near our home or work.  Then, we usually just complain about how the construction affects traffic and slows everything down.

But stop to think about it: what would life be without construction; without heavy equipment? Before heavy equipment, everything was done by hand. Picks and shovels; wheelbarrows; and long hours of hard work.

Heavy Equipment Development

Through the early 1900s, the horse-driven and steam-powered heavy equipment revolutionized the construction industry, increasing productivity and shortening the length of time construction projects took to complete. With the invention of the internal combustion engine, the industry began to change even more.

The Interstate Highway System construction during the 1960s was the boom time for the construction and heavy equipment industries.  This type of work called for high-horsepower equipment and new types of equipment.

The high horsepower scrapers were developed to move the massive amounts of materials produced by the highway system construction.  There were hundreds of scrapers at work on these projects.

The 1960s was also the “monster machine” decade.  Machines grew in size and horsepower; the surface mining industry called for machines that are still the largest, even today, including the 360-ton haul truck, which has grown to a 400-ton haul truck, becoming more productive and efficient, but not much bigger.

The 1970s faced the Arab oil embargo.  This produced an increased need for coal, which increased the demand for heavy equipment.  The demand was so great, that ordering a large machine found a 2 to 3-year waiting list.

In the 1980s, a recession transformed the industry, with a lot of companies failing.  The recession also changed the future of the four major heavy equipment manufacturers: International Harvester,  Euclid, Caterpillar, and Allis Chalmers.

By the 1990s, only Caterpillar remained with its original name.  In the mid-’90s, a wave of environmental laws forced manufacturers to begin making cleaner and more efficient diesel engines.

The most recent recession in 2008 caused the focus to change from ownership to leasing of heavy equipment. Currently, over 40% of all equipment is bought by rental companies.  The pressure on manufacturers continues, to produce more energy-efficient heavy equipment.  Continued development of electrification of major engine components and more energy-efficient alternatives to conventional powertrain systems are the expected future of heavy equipment.

Even with all of the changes, the global heavy equipment market is estimated to be around 192 billion U.S. dollars in 2017. During 2017, it is expected that around 809,000 construction machines will be sold worldwide, with approximately 186,000 delivered to customers in North America.

No matter what you think about construction and heavy equipment: no roads, no buildings, no houses; nothing in our lives could be constructed without heavy equipment and the construction industry, and the people who run the heavy equipment.  Together with the trucking industry, everything in our lives, from our homes to where we shop, depends on the construction, heavy equipment, and trucking industries.

OK, first, a disclaimer: If the other guys on your work crew also do this, then you’ll be the “best heavy equipment crew around” because all of you invested in the same steps.

Choose The Best School That Is Nationally Recognized

There’s a good reason that schools like ATS are nationally recognized, and it’s because the history of the school and students have a proven track record of excellence. Look for a heavy equipment operator training school that has a good reputation in the industry. Pay attention to what the school offers, too. Nationally recognized schools will have access to employers simply because they are known to be good sources of professional-level operators.

Choose The Best School That Is Accredited

Look at the credentials and affiliations the heavy equipment operator school has. Those credentials and affiliations are proof that high standards have been met in curricula and instructor quality. Being an accredited training school also has financial benefits because a wide variety of education funding sources require accreditation for eligibility. You could qualify for more financial assistance than you realize if the training school you choose is accredited.

Choose To Invest Your Efforts Into Your Training

The best training facility in the world still needs the student to participate in the training, right? Once you have selected a nationally recognized, accredited heavy operator training school and gone through the process of application and financial aid, there’s still a choice to be made.

You can goof off and regret it, or dedicate this time to learning how to be the best heavy equipment operator around.

Certification is slowly becoming an issue for many operators in the heavy equipment industry. This is particularly so of crane operators as more and more states adopt the concept of employers being only permitted to employ certified crane operators. From July this year, new standards will start to come in effect on a national level that will make it compulsory for all crane operators to be certified.

ATS Crane Operator Schools have been supporters of crane operator certification for several years now. We have been accredited to deliver both the training and the certification assessments, a situation which makes life far easier for those looking at a crane operator career. The process is fairly straightforward as well.

As a new student, you will spend three weeks of in-class and in-cab training. This is designed to give you the actual skills required to work effectively in the industry. At the same time, you will be given training in areas such as maintenance and the all-important safety aspects of crane operations. Crane safety is one of the driving forces behind the requirement for crane operators to become certified. In theory, if all operators are certified they should all have the same set of basic operational skills along with the same safety training knowledge. The end results should be a far safer workplace.

If you are looking at a career as a crane operator, check with your crane operator trainer regarding certification. If they don’t train to a national standard then they will not be preparing you for the inevitable certification process – this will see you spending a lot of money on training that could be useless. Select a training provider that not only provides training that is accredited, select a training provider that can prove both the crane operator training and the crane operator certification assessments. Your money will be well spent and you will have a qualification that will be accepted throughout the country – that’s invaluable.

Crane operators can lead a boring life sometimes. You sit through your crane operator training, find a job on a construction site, then spend day after day lifting the same old stuff. Compare that to a mobile crane operator and things are completely different. In fact, the working life of a mobile crane operator can be quite an adventure – you just never know what tomorrow may bring.

Of course, the biggest difference between a mobile crane operator and a fixed construction crane is that a mobile crane is on the road. Every day brings a new job, a new location, new people and something entirely different to lift. In fact, much of your time is spent on the road, grounding the crane or packing up ready to move on.

Mobile crane operators do just about everything. They help with the laying of pipes; help to right overturned vehicles, especially big trucks; they even help to lift plant and equipment into homes and buildings. Mobile cranes have been called upon to lift giant wheels from earth-moving equipment when a change is needed out on site.

Operators of mobile cranes are multi-skilled requiring the skills and licensing of a truck driver whilst on the road, and the skills and certification of a crane operator while on the job. Operators also need to be able to make quick assessments of the job at hand to determine how best to perform the lift given the environment they are in.

You can undertake a fully accredited mobile crane operator training program through ATS Crane Operator Schools and following completion of the three week course, undertake the certification process through us as well. There’s nothing boring about a mobile crane operator’s job – in fact, every day brings something new. If this is the career for you, contact us for more information on the latest training schedules.

Crane operator training is very different today than what it was twenty or thirty years ago. Today, the requirement in many states is not just training, but certification that you have met the minimum standards when it comes to knowledge and skills. There are other states where this requirement is not currently in place, however, training to work in those states and not receiving certification is a big mistake.

To begin with, any crane operator training that you undertake should be done to national standards. Training bodies that are accredited by organizations such as the NCCCO train to standards that industry itself has identified as being the minimum. If you think about this it is only logical to take the next step. Certification provides proof that you now meet those minimum standards. If you’re trained to a national level, why not become certified to prove it?

What are those minimum standards? In simple terms, it is an assessment of operational skills, safety knowledge and non-operational skills such as basic maintenance and fault identification. The reality is, you can learn these skills and gain this knowledge in as little as three weeks.

ATS Crane Operator Schools are not only accredited to deliver nationally recognized crane operator training, they are also accredited to undertake assessments under the national certification system. You can receive your crane operator training, undertake the assessments, and become a certified crane operator, all under the one roof. Crane operator training and certification go hand-in-hand so it makes sense to complete it all at the same time.

For most people, the image of a bulldozer is that of a machine that pushes dirt around all day. In simple terms, they are right. However, in the hands of a skilled operator, bulldozers are land sculptors. Rather than just pushing dirt around, they carve areas ready for whatever the intended use is.

If you take a housing development, the land is cleared. This is the bulldozer at its beasty best. It uses brute strength to carve away the top of the area to be developed. However, once the initial work has been completed, the bulldozer then starts to carve out areas. Roads may be carved a little deeper than the surrounding home sites. Playgrounds or shopping precincts may be carved a little deeper still or at least cleared to a large flat surface. In the hands of a skilled operator, this work can be completed with precision in fairly quick time.

The operative words there are ‘skilled operator’. The bulldozer is going nowhere unless it has an operator. The more skilled the operator, the better the machine performs. Becoming a skilled operator takes two steps – training and practice. Training, of course, provides the skill and knowledge base that practice (or experience) builds on. Like any building, lay a faulty foundation and the chances are that building will collapse. Develop a poor skills base and no amount of practice will help – not if you are practicing poor work habits.

Quality training starts with a quality training organization like ATS Heavy Equipment Operator Schools. ATS deliver quality bulldozer training through their nationally accredited heavy equipment training program, a program that can have you work ready in as little as three weeks. If you fancy the challenge of operating a beast to carve out the landscape then consider bulldozer operator training.

Heavy equipment safety has become one of the most important components in an accredited heavy equipment training program. There is good reason for it as well. Over the years, heavy equipment accidents have resulted in deaths, serious injuries and millions of dollars in damages to properties. In most states, all employees need to be following a work place safety plan and businesses can be fined large amounts for breaches in safety procedures.

Unfortunately, heavy equipment safety is very much an attitude issue. In the past, heavy equipment operators were seen as rough, tough, heavy drinking loudmouths that worked with a break or who have a break-through type attitude. We still see this stereotype as heavy equipment operators, but that mentality is no longer the dominant force in this industry.

It may seem strange, but heavy equipment safety needs to become a subconscious act, not a conscious act. Sure, you need to be thinking safety, but your subconscious is what is always watching what is taking place around you. Some people call it a sixth sense. The term doesn’t matter – heavy equipment safety just needs to become second nature.

We do it in our cars as we drive around. We are not constantly thinking about safety, we just do it. The same is true when it comes to heavy equipment safety. This all starts with your attitude and the type of training you receive. Your heavy equipment training should be accredited and should include heavy equipment safety training components (if it’s accredited it will – it’s part of the accreditation process).

Here at ATS Heavy Equipment Operator Schools we have a well earned reputation for providing industry with well trained graduates who are ready for employment. This means they have been trained to national standards including heavy equipment safety. If you are looking to become a heavy equipment operator – train with the best to ensure that your skills and knowledge are what employers are looking for.

If you’re looking at a heavy equipment career you have a number of options available to you. These include the area you may wish to specialize in and how you can enter that area of choice. Despite, or perhaps because of, the recent economic downturn, heavy equipment operators are in demand and some employers feel that this spring and summer will see shortages of suitably skilled people in many heavy equipment areas. How do you get your start then?

You have a number of options and they all start with training. If you’re not professionally trained to operate heavy equipment these days, most employers won’t look at you. There are plenty of training options available. We suggest you select only those training organizations that are accredited to deliver nationally recognized training. This means any credentials you receive should be recognized nationwide.

ATS Heavy Equipment Operator Schools are one option. You can start by undertaking our free online training program, or you can contact us for information about course details. We can even post out information on training programs available. We have training centers in almost a dozen locations – there is sure to be one reasonably close to you.

If you wish to specialize in one particular piece of equipment, you can. Our training covers a range of machinery depending, the range will depend on which of our training facilities you attend. It is often a wiser move to wait until you have completed your training before deciding on which piece of heavy equipment you want to specialize in. In our experience, students soon develop a natural affinity with one or more pieces of equipment and that is then where they tend to specialize. Heavy equipment careers – they are in demand and the demand is growing. Contact us for more information on heavy equipment training choices.

Winter can be a demanding time for crane operators, particularly mobile crane operators, and the snow can really test their crane operator training to the limit. Snow, of course, creates many problems. It can create havoc on our roads, although for mobile crane operators it is the snow on the sides of roads that causes more problems.

This time of year seems to give way to strange accidents, no doubt often caused by black ice on our roads. Cars and trucks skid, overturn and wind up in strange places – places where often a tow-truck can’t retrieve them. This is when a mobile crane may be called in to help retrieve the vehicle. Even then it’s not plain sailing since the mobile crane needs to be able to find some firm footings before attempting to lift.

Road accidents are not the only problems caused by snow. Building can start to feel the effects of the weight of snow and often require assistance from cranes. Mobile cranes are called in to support the wall or roof until construction crews resolve the problem. Once again, snow under foot makes life challenging for crane operators and tests their crane operator training and experience.

Having to work under challenging conditions is another reason why national certification has become important. Operators holding a national certificate are able to demonstrate that their skills and knowledge meet a specific national standard. ATS Heavy Equipment Operator Schools conduct accredited crane operator training. We are also accredited to perform assessments and to award crane operator certifications.

According to many former students, the singe factor affecting their employment options was their choice of training. Why? In most cases, that was the feedback from the employer. Heavy equipment training organizations develop a reputation. It is this reputation that employers look at when deciding who to hire – pick the wrong training organization, and you may find yourself unemployable.

This is not unique to heavy equipment training. Take a look at most professions and you will find some training providers who are highly regarded, and others who are looked upon poorly. ATS Heavy Equipment Operator Schools has worked hard over the years developing a trust between those who hire operators and their training schools. Based on this trust, our graduates are looked upon quite favorably when it comes to applying for positions.

There are several factors that go into building a solid reputation. Time is important – we have only been in operation for forty years – do you think we may have learned a thing or two ourselves in that time? We have – we have learned what employers want.

The second factor is to deliver training that is industry accredited. This means that employers know that graduates will leave our training schools with a certain level of skills – the employer doesn’t have to guess what your skill level is.

The third factor – our actual training. When we say that someone has completed and passed their training – they have. Individuals cannot pay their money, turn up for the first and last days then expect to pass – you have to do the work to complete the course – there are no bought qualifications at ATS.

Employers know who they want to employ. Your choice of training will determine whether or not you meet their criteria. Add ATS Heavy Equipment Operator Schools to your list of possible training providers. Check us out and I think you will agree that undertaking heavy equipment training through us – is by far the right choice.