Heavy Equipment Operators

Key Responsibilities

• Align machines, cutterheads, or depth gauge makers with reference stakes and guidelines or ground or position equipment, following hand signals of other workers.
• Operate loaders to pull out stumps, rip asphalt or concrete, rough-grade properties, bury refuse, or perform general cleanup.
• Operate equipment to demolish or remove debris or to remove snow from streets, roads, or parking lots.
• Repair and maintain equipment, making emergency adjustments or assisting with major repairs as necessary.
• Adjust handwheels and depress pedals to control attachments, such as blades, buckets, scrapers, or swing booms.
• Locate underground services, such as pipes or wires, prior to beginning work.
• Connect hydraulic hoses, belts, mechanical linkages, or power takeoff shafts to tractors.
• Start engines, move throttles, switches, or levers, or depress pedals to operate machines, such as bulldozers, trench excavators, road graders, or backhoes.
• Drive and maneuver equipment equipped with blades in successive passes over working areas to remove topsoil, vegetation, or rocks or to distribute and level earth or terrain.
• Keep records of material or equipment usage or problems encountered.
• Test atmosphere for adequate oxygen or explosive conditions when working in confined spaces.
• Monitor operations to ensure that health and safety standards are met.
• Talk to clients and study instructions, plans, or diagrams to establish work requirements.
• Load and move dirt, rocks, equipment, or other materials, using trucks, crawler tractors, power cranes, shovels, graders, or related equipment.
• Operate tractors or bulldozers to perform such tasks as clearing land, mixing sludge, trimming backfills, or building roadways or parking lots.
• Select and fasten bulldozer blades or other attachments to tractors, using hitches.
• Learn and follow safety regulations.
• Take actions to avoid potential hazards or obstructions, such as utility lines, other equipment, other workers, or falling objects.
• Operate compactors, scrapers, or rollers to level, compact, or cover refuse at disposal grounds.
• Check fuel supplies at sites to ensure adequate availability.
• Coordinate machine actions with other activities, positioning or moving loads in response to hand or audio signals from crew members.
• Push other equipment when extra traction or assistance is required.
• Operate road watering, oiling, or rolling equipment, or street sealing equipment, such as chip spreaders.
• Signal operators to guide movement of tractor-drawn machines.
• Turn valves to control air or water output of compressors or pumps.
• Drive tractor-trailer trucks to move equipment from site to site.