Although OSHA has not yet mandated that all heavy equipment operators become certified, many companies in the construction industry DO require certification training. Employers in the construction industry have reported that they are experiencing a decrease in the amount of premium they have to pay for liability insurance due to hiring certified workers.
LOADERS
Backhoe - A backhoe, also called a rear actor or back actor, is a piece of excavating equipment or digger consisting of a digging bucket on the end of a two-part articulated arm. They are typically mounted on the back of a tractor or front loader.
Skid-Steer - A skid loader or skid-steer loader is a small rigid frame, engine-powered machine with lift arms used to attach a wide variety of labor-saving tools or attachments. Though sometimes they are equipped with tracks, skid-steer loaders are typically four-wheel vehicles with the wheels mechanically locked in synchronization on each side. The left-side drive wheels can be driven independently of the right-side drive wheels.
Track - A tracked loader is an engineering vehicle consisting of a tracked chassis with a loader for digging and loading material.
EXCAVATORS
Compact (MINI) - A compact or mini excavator is a tracked or wheeled vehicle with an approximate operating weight from 0.7 to 8.5 tonnes (metric). It generally includes a standard backfill blade and features independent boom swing.
Dragline - A dragline excavator is a piece of heavy equipment used in civil engineering and surface mining. Draglines fall into two broad categories: those that are based on standard, lifting cranes and the heavy units which have to be built on-site. Most crawler cranes with an added winch drum on the front can act as a dragline.
Standard Excavators - A heavy construction equipment consisting of a boom, stick, bucket and cab on a rotating platform (known as the "house"). The house sits atop an undercarriage with tracks or wheels. A cable-operated excavator uses winches and steel ropes to accomplish the movements.
ROAD
Compactor (Roller) - A road roller is a compactor type engineering vehicle used to compact soil, gravel, concrete, or asphalt in the construction of roads and foundations. Similar rollers are also used at landfills or in agriculture.
Grader - A grader, also commonly referred to as a road grader, a blade, a maintainer, or a motor grader, is a construction machine with a long blade used to create a flat surface. Typical models have three axles, with the engine and cab situated above the rear axles at one end of the vehicle and a third axle at the front end of the vehicle, with the blade in between.
Paver- An engineering vehicle used to lay asphalt on roadways. It is normally fed by a dump truck. A separate machine, a roller, is then used to press the hot asphalt mix, resulting in a smooth, even surface. The sub-base is prepared by use of a grader to trim crushed stone to profile after rolling.
TRUCKS
ADT - An Articulated Dump Truck is an all-wheel drive, off-road dump truck. It has a hinge between the cab and the dump box, but is distinct from a semi-trailer truck in that the power unit is a permanent fixture, not a separable vehicle. Together, with all-wheel drive and low center of gravity, it is highly adaptable to rough terrain.
Bucket Truck or Cherry Picker - The bucket is designed for a person to stand in and work from. Often a duplicate set of controls that are used to manipulate the position of the bucket will be available to the person in the bucket, allowing the operator to position himself. The lifting arms of some cherry pickers are capable of telescoping to adjust the reach of the device, usually with automatic safety controls to prevent tipping over.
Dump truck - A truck used for transporting loose material (such as sand, gravel, or dirt) for construction. A typical dump truck is equipped with a hydraulically operated open-box bed hinged at the rear, the front of which can be lifted up to allow the contents to be deposited on the ground behind the truck at the site of delivery.
Grapple truck - A truck that has a grapple loader mounted to its frame which is used for loading and sometimes hauling bulky waste. Grapple trucks are commonly used by municipal sanitation or public works departments, and by waste collection companies. Grapple trucks can also sometimes be used in road construction and repair.
BULLDOZER
Bulldozer - A
crawler (
continuous tracked tractor) equipped with a substantial metal plate (known as a
blade) used to push large quantities of soil, sand, rubble, etc. during
construction or conversion work and typically equipped at the rear with a claw-like device (known as a ripper) to loosen densely-compacted materials.
FORKLIFT
A forklift is a piece of machinery which is used to lift and move large loads. There are numerous useful applications for a forklift and many warehouses, construction sites, and manufacturing facilities have forklifts on hand. There are a number of different types of forklifts intended to meet various weight limits and consumer needs.
