A heavy equipment operator operates

heavy equipment Heavy equipment, heavy machinery, earthmovers, construction vehicles, or construction equipment, refers to heavy-duty vehicles specially designed to execute construction tasks, most frequently involving earthwork operations or other large con ...

used in

engineering Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...

and

construction Construction are processes involved in delivering buildings, infrastructure, industrial facilities, and associated activities through to the end of their life. It typically starts with planning, financing, and design that continues until the a ...

projects. Typically only

skilled workers A skilled worker is any worker who has special skill, training, or knowledge which they can then apply to their work. A skilled worker may have learned their skills through work experience, on-the-job training, an apprenticeship program or form ...

may operate heavy equipment, and there is specialized training for learning to use heavy equipment.

Operator training

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 **

International Union of Operating Engineers The International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE) is a trade union within the United States–based AFL–CIO representing primarily construction workers who work as heavy equipment operators, mechanics, surveyors, and stationary engineers ( ...

Association of Equipment Manufacturers The Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM) is a North American trade association representing off-road equipment manufacturers and suppliers. AEM represents more than 1,000 companies with more than 200 product lines in agriculture and constr ...

** National Association of Heavy Equipment Training Schools * Canada **

Safety

Much publication about heavy equipment operators focuses on improving safety for such workers. The

occupational medicine Occupational and Environmental Medicine (OEM), previously called industrial medicine, is a board certified medical specialty under the American Board of Preventative Medicine that specializes in the prevention and treatment of work-related ill ...

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.

Notable heavy equipment operators

* Mack Ray Edwards (1918–1971), child sex abuser/serial killer; buried victims at his construction sites; committed

suicide by hanging Suicide by hanging is the intentional killing of oneself (suicide) via suspension from an anchor-point such as an overhead beam or hook, by a rope or cord or by jumping from a height with a noose around the neck. Hanging is often considered to ...

in his prison cell

Types

These subdivisions, in this order, are the standard heavy equipment categorization. Tractor *

Bulldozer A bulldozer or dozer (also called a crawler) is a large tractor equipped with a metal #Blade, blade at the front for pushing material (soil, sand, snow, rubble, or rock) during construction work. It travels most commonly on continuous tracks, ...

(dozer, track dozer) *

Combine harvester The modern combine harvester, also called a combine, is a machine designed to harvest a variety of cultivated seeds. Combine harvesters are one of the most economically important labour-saving inventions, significantly reducing the fraction of ...

Snowcat A snowcat (a portmanteau of snow and caterpillar) is an enclosed-cab, truck-sized, fully tracked vehicle designed to travel over snow. Major manufacturers are PistenBully (Germany), Prinoth (Italy), and Tucker (United States). Snow groomer ...

Snowplow A snowplow (also snow plow, snowplough or snow plough) is a device intended for mounting on a vehicle, used for removing snow and ice from outdoor surfaces, typically those serving transportation purposes. Although this term is often used to ref ...

Skidder A skidder is any type of heavy vehicle used in a logging operation for pulling cut timber, trees out of a forest in a process called "skidding", in which the logs are transported from the cutting site to a landing. There they are loaded onto t ...

Tractor A tractor is an engineering vehicle specifically designed to deliver a high tractive effort (or torque) at slow speeds, for the purposes of hauling a Trailer (vehicle), trailer or machinery such as that used in agriculture, mining or constructio ...

(wheel tractor) * Tracked tractor *

Locomotive A locomotive is a rail transport, rail vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. Traditionally, locomotives pulled trains from the front. However, Push–pull train, push–pull operation has become common, and in the pursuit for ...

Artillery tractor An artillery tractor, also referred to as a gun tractor, is a specialized heavy-duty form of tractor unit used to tow artillery pieces of varying weights and calibres. It may be wheeled, tracked, or half-tracked. Traction There are two m ...

Crawler-transporter The crawler-transporters, formally known as the Missile Crawler Transporter Facilities, are a pair of tracked vehicles used to transport launch vehicles from NASA's Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) along the Crawlerway to Launch Complex 39. The ...

Military engineering vehicle A military engineering vehicle is a vehicle built for construction work or for the transportation of combat engineering, combat engineers on the battlefield. These vehicles may be modified civilian equipment (such as the Armored bulldozer, armo ...

s Grader *

Grader A grader, also commonly referred to as a road grader, motor grader, or simply blade, is a form of heavy equipment with a long blade used to create a flat surface during Grading (engineering), grading. Although the earliest models were towed b ...

Excavator * Amphibious excavator *

Compact excavator A compact or mini excavator is a tracked or wheeled vehicle with an approximate operating weight from 0.7 to 8.5 tonnes. It generally includes a standard backfill blade and features independent boom swing. Hydraulic excavators are somewhat diffe ...

Dragline excavator A dragline excavator is a heavy-duty excavator used in civil engineering and surface mining. It was invented in 1904, and presented an immediate challenge to the steam shovel and its diesel and electric powered descendant, the power shovel. M ...

Dredger Dredging is the excavation of material from a water environment. Possible reasons for dredging include improving existing water features; reshaping land and water features to alter drainage, navigability, and commercial use; constructing dam ...

Bucket-wheel excavator A bucket-wheel excavator (BWE) is a large heavy equipment machine used in surface mining. Their primary function is that of a continuous digging machine in large-scale open-pit mining operations, removing thousands of tons of overburden a day. Wh ...

Excavator Excavators are heavy equipment (construction), heavy construction equipment primarily consisting of a backhoe, boom, dipper (or stick), Bucket (machine part), bucket, and cab on a rotating platform known as the "house". The modern excavator's ...

(digger) *

Long reach excavator A long reach excavator is a type of excavator where the arm has been extended to reach further than a normal excavator would. It is often used in demolition of buildings, but it can also be used in other applications. History The term ''long ...

Power shovel A power shovel, also known as a motor shovel, stripping shovel, front shovel, mining shovel or rope shovel, is a bucket-equipped machine usually powered by steam, diesel fuel, gasoline or electricity and used for digging and loading earth or frag ...

Reclaimer A reclaimer is a large machine used in bulk material handling applications. A reclaimer's function is to recover bulk material such as ores and cereals from a stockpile. A stacker is used to stack the material. Reclaimers are volumetric ma ...

Suction excavator A suction excavator, or vacuum excavator, is a construction vehicle that removes heavy debris or other materials from a hole on land using vacuuming. Suction excavators are meant to be less destructive than regular excavators. The suction ex ...

Walking excavator The term walking excavator may apply to two different forms of heavy equipment, the historic walking power shovel or dragline excavator that began to appear already early in the 20th century, or the contemporary version of all-terrain excavator ...

* Trencher *

Yarder A yarder is piece of logging equipment that uses a system of cables to pull or fly logs from the stump to a collection point. It generally consists of an engine, drums, and spar, but has a range of configurations and variations, such as the swing ...

Backhoe *

Backhoe A backhoe is a type of excavating equipment, or excavator, consisting of a digging bucket on the end of a two-part articulated arm. It is typically mounted on the back of a tractor or loader (equipment), front loader, the latter forming a "backh ...

Backhoe loader A backhoe loader, also called a loader backhoe, loader excavator, tractor excavator, digger or colloquially shortened to backhoe within the industry, is a heavy equipment (construction), heavy equipment vehicle that consists of a tractor-like u ...

Timber *

Feller buncher A feller buncher is a type of harvester used in logging. It is a motorized vehicle with an attachment that can rapidly gather and cut a tree before felling it. ''Feller'' is a traditional name for someone who cuts down trees, and ''bunching'' i ...

* Harvester *

Forwarder A forwarder is a forestry vehicle that carries big felling, felled Timber, logs cut by a Harvester (forestry), harvester from the stump to a roadside landing for later acquisition. Forwarders can use rubber tires or tracks. Unlike a skidder, a ...

Power saw A saw is a tool consisting of a tough blade, wire, or chain with a hard toothed edge used to cut through material. Various terms are used to describe toothed and abrasive saws. Saws began as serrated materials, and when mankind learned how to ...

* Track harvester * Wheel forwarder * Wheel skidder *

Logging truck A logging truck or timber lorry is a large truck used to carry logs. Some have integrated flatbeds, some are discrete tractor units, and some are configured to spread a load between the tractor unit and a dollied trailer pulled behind it. Oft ...

Pipelayer * Pipelayer (sideboom) Scraper * Fresno scraper * Scraper *

Wheel tractor-scraper In civil engineering, a wheel tractor-scraper (also known as a land scraper, land leveler, tournapull or simply called a scraper) is a type of heavy equipment used for earthmoving. It has a pan/hopper for loading and carrying material. The pan ...

(belly scraper) Mining * Construction and mining tractor * Construction and mining truck *

Dumper A dumper or dumper truck is a vehicle designed for carrying bulk material, often on building sites. A dumper has a body which tilts or opens at the back for unloading and is usually an open 4-wheeled vehicle with the load skip in front of the ...

Dump truck A dump truck, known also as a dumping truck, dump lorry or dumper lorry or a dumper for short, is used for transporting materials (such as dirt, gravel, or demolition waste) for construction as well as coal. A typical dump truck is equipped ...

Haul truck Haul trucks are off-road, heavy-duty dump trucks specifically engineered for use in high-production mining and exceptionally demanding construction environments. Most are dual axle; at least two examples of tri-axles were made in the 1970s. Hau ...

Mining equipment Mining is the extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agricultural processes, or feasibly created artificially in a la ...

Articulated *

Articulated hauler An articulated hauler, articulated dump truck (ADT), or sometimes a dump hauler, is a very large heavy-duty type of dump truck used to transport loads over rough terrain, and occasionally on public roads. The vehicle usually has all-wheel drive a ...

Compactor * Wheel dozer (soil compactor) * Soil stabilizer Loader *

Loader Loader can refer to: * Loader (equipment) * Loader (computing) ** LOADER.EXE, an auto-start program loader optionally used in the startup process of Microsoft Windows ME * Loader (surname) * Fast loader * Speedloader * Boot loader ** LOADER.COM ...

(payloader, front loader, wheel loader, integrated tool carrier) * Skip loader (skippy) Track loader *

Track loader A tracked loader or crawler loader is an engineering vehicle consisting of a tracked chassis with a front bucket for digging and loading material. The history of tracked loaders can be defined by three evolutions of their design. Each of these ...

Skid-steer loader *

Skid-steer loader A skid loader, skid-steer loader (SSL), or skidsteer is any of a class of compact heavy equipment with lift arms that can attach to a wide variety of buckets and other labor-saving tools or attachments. The wheels typically have no separate ste ...

Material handler *

Aerial work platform An aerial work platform (AWP), also an aerial device, aerial lift, boom lift, bucket truck, cherry picker, elevating work platform (EWP), mobile elevating work platform (MEWP), or scissor lift, is a mechanical device used to provide temporary ...

Lift table A lift table is a device that employs a scissors mechanism to raise or lower goods and/or persons. Typically lift tables are used to raise large, heavy loads through relatively small distances. Common applications include pallet handling, vehicl ...

* Crane * Block-setting crane * Bulk-handling crane *

Crane vessel A crane vessel, crane ship, crane barge, or floating crane is a ship with a crane specialized in lifting heavy loads, typically exceeding for modern ships. The largest crane vessels are used for offshore construction. The cranes are fitted to c ...

Aerial crane An aerial crane or flying crane is a helicopter used to lift heavy or awkward loads. As aerial cranes, helicopters carry loads connected to long cables or slings in order to place heavy equipment when other methods are not available or economical ...

Container crane A container crane (also container handling gantry crane or ship-to-shore crane) is a type of large dock (maritime), dockside gantry crane found at container terminals for loading and unloading intermodal containers from container ships. Containe ...

Gantry crane A gantry crane is a Crane (machine), crane built atop a wikt:gantry, gantry, which is a structure used to straddle an object or workspace. They can range from enormous "full" gantry cranes, capable of lifting some of the heaviest loads in the wor ...

Overhead crane An overhead crane, commonly called a bridge crane, is a type of crane found in industrial environments. An overhead crane consists of two parallel rails seated on longitudinal I-beams attached to opposite steel columns by means of brackets. ...

Electric overhead traveling crane Electric overhead traveling cranes or EOT cranes are a common type of overhead crane, also called bridge cranes. They consist of parallel runways, much akin to rails of a railroad, with a traveling bridge spanning the gap. EOT cranes are specifica ...

* Ring crane *

Level luffing crane A level-luffing crane is a crane mechanism where the hook remains at the same level while luffing: moving the jib up and down, so as to move the hook inwards and outwards relative to the base. Usually the description is only applied to those w ...

Mobile crane A mobile crane is a cable-controlled crane mounted on crawlers or rubber-tired carriers or a hydraulic-powered crane with a telescoping boom mounted on truck-type carriers or as self-propelled models. They are designed to easily transport t ...

Travel lift A travel lift or travelift (also called a boat hoist, boat gantry crane, or boat crane) is a specialised type of crane used for lifting boats out of the water and transporting them around Dock (maritime), docks or marina, marinas. These cranes al ...

Forklift A forklift (also called industrial truck, lift truck, jitney, hi-lo, fork truck, fork hoist, and forklift truck) is a powered industrial truck used to lift and move materials over short distances. The forklift was developed in the early 20th c ...

Garbage truck A garbage truck is a truck specially designed to collect municipal solid waste and transport it to a list of solid waste treatment technologies, solid waste treatment facility, such as a landfill, materials recovery facility, recycling center ...

* Grapple truck, Knuckleboom loader (trailer mount) *

Straddle carrier A straddle carrier or straddle truck is a freight-carrying vehicle that carries its load underneath by "straddling" it, rather than carrying it on top like a conventional truck. The advantage of the straddle carrier is its ability to load and unlo ...

Sidelifter A sidelifter is a specialised vehicle or semi-trailer used to hoist and transport International Organization for Standardization, ISO standard intermodal containers over longer distances. Overview The sidelifter loads and unloads containers via a ...

Reach stacker A reach stacker is a vehicle used for handling intermodal cargo containers in small terminals or medium-sized ports. Reach stackers can transport a container short distances very quickly and pile them in various rows depending on their access. R ...

* Telescopic handlers *

Tow truck A tow truck (also called a wrecker, a breakdown truck, recovery vehicle or a breakdown lorry) is a truck used to move disabled, improperly parked, Vehicle impoundment, impounded, or otherwise indisposed motor vehicles. This may involve recoverin ...

Paving *

Asphalt paver A paver (road paver finisher, asphalt finisher, road paving machine) is a piece of construction equipment used to lay asphalt concrete or Portland cement concrete on roads, bridges, parking lots and other such places. It lays the material flat a ...

* Asphalt plant * Cold planer * Cure rig * Paver *

Pavement milling Pavement milling (cold planing, asphalt milling, or profiling) is the process of removing at least part of the surface of a paved area such as a road, bridge, or parking lot. Milling removes anywhere from just enough thickness to level and smoo ...

* Pneumatic tire compactor * Roller (road roller, roller compactor) * Slipform paver * Vibratory compactor,

Compactor A compactor is a machine or mechanism used to reduce the size of material such as waste material or bio mass through compaction. A trash compactor is used in business and public places like hospitals (and in the United States also in homes) to ...

Underground *

Roadheader A roadheader, also called a boom-type roadheader, road header machine, road header or just header machine, is a piece of excavating equipment consisting of a boom-mounted cutting head, a loading device usually involving a conveyor, and a crawler t ...

Tunnel boring machine A tunnel boring machine (TBM), also known as a "mole" or a "worm", is a machine used to excavate tunnels. TBMs are an alternative to drilling and blasting methods and "hand mining", allowing more rapid excavation through hard rock, wet or dry so ...

* Underground mining equipment Hydromatic tool *

Ballast tamper A tamping machine or ballast tamper, informally simply a tamper, is a self-propelled, rail-mounted machine used to pack (or tamp) the track ballast under railway tracks to make the tracks and roadbed more durable and level. Prior to the intr ...

* Attachments *

Drilling rig A drilling rig is an integrated system that Drilling, drills wells, such as oil or water wells, or holes for piling and other construction purposes, into the earth's subsurface. Drilling rigs can be massive structures housing equipment used to ...

Horizontal directional drilling Directional boring, also referred to as horizontal directional drilling (HDD), is a minimal impact trenchless method of installing underground utilities such as pipe, Electrical conduit, conduit, or Telecommunications cable, cables in a relativel ...

Earth auger An earth auger, earth drill, or post-hole auger is a drilling tool used for making holes in the ground. It typically consists of a rotating vertical metal rod or pipe with one or more blades attached at the lower end, that cut or scrape the soil. ...

Pile driver A pile driver is a heavy-duty tool used to drive piles into soil to build piers, bridges, cofferdams, and other "pole" supported structures, and patterns of pilings as part of permanent deep foundations for buildings or other structures. Pili ...

Post pounder A post pounder, post driver, post rammer, post knocker or fence driver is a tool used for driving fence posts and similar items into land surfaces. It consists of a heavy steel pipe which is closed at one end and has handles welded onto the sid ...

Rotary tiller A cultivator (also known as a rotavator) is a piece of agricultural equipment used for secondary tillage. One sense of the name refers to frames with ''teeth'' (also called ''shanks'') that pierce the soil as they are dragged through it li ...

(rototiller, rotovator)

Hydraulic machinery Hydraulic machines use liquid fluid power to perform work. Heavy construction vehicles are a common example. In this type of machine, hydraulic fluid is pumped to various hydraulic motors and hydraulic cylinders throughout the machine a ...

Highway *

Tractor unit A tractor unit, also known as a truck unit, lorry unit, power unit, prime mover, ten-wheeler, semi-tractor, semi-truck, semi-lorry, tractor cab, truck cab, lorry cab, big rig tractor, big rig truck or big rig lorry or simply a tractor, truck, ...

Ballast tractor A ballast tractor is a specially weighted tractor unit of a heavy hauler combination. It is designed to utilize a drawbar to pull or push heavy or exceptionally large trailer loads which are loaded in a hydraulic modular trailer. When feasi ...

* Pushback tractor *

Railcar mover A railcar mover (also called a shunt vehicle in Australia, the UK, and in Canada, or the trademarks Trackmobile or ShuttleWagon) is a road–rail vehicle (capable of travelling on both roads and rail tracks) fitted with couplers for moving small ...

* Highway 10 yard rear dump * Highway bottom dump (stiff), pup (belly train),

triple Triple is used in several contexts to mean "threefold" or a " treble": Sports * Triple (baseball), a three-base hit * A basketball three-point field goal * A figure skating jump with three rotations * In bowling terms, three strikes in a row * I ...

* Highway end dump and side dump * Highway transfer, Transfer train *

Concrete mixer A concrete mixer (also cement mixer) is a device that homogeneously combines cement, Construction aggregate, aggregate (e.g. sand or gravel), and water to form concrete. A typical concrete mixer uses a revolving drum to mix the components. For ...

* Concrete mix truck * Concrete mix dozer *

Lowboy (trailer) A lowboy (low-loader in British English, low-bed in western Canada and South Africa or float in Australia and eastern Canada) is a semi-trailer with two drops in deck height: one right after the trailer (vehicle), gooseneck and one right before t ...

Street sweeper A street sweeper or street cleaner is a person or machine that cleans streets. People have worked in cities as "sanitation workers" since sanitation and Waste management, waste removal became a priority. A street-sweeping person would use a b ...

* Street sweep truck * Street sweep dozer

References

External links

*{{Commonscatinline, Heavy equipment operator Construction trades workers