What is Heavy Equipment Training? A Beginner’s Guide
From backhoe loaders to asphalt pavers, heavy equipment refers to heavy-duty vehicles built and designed to complete construction tasks, primarily those involving earthwork. In recent years, the safety conditions surrounding heavy equipment has improved significantly, with heavy equipment operator accidents and fatalities dropping dramatically over the past two decades.
As the technology and protection provided available to heavy equipment operators continues to develop, heavy equipment training requirements have also expanded to limit risk. This forces employers to take extra precaution when hiring workers for their site, ensuring that individuals who work with heavy equipment also have the proper credentials.
Training in accordance to industry standards, regulations, and policies are all critical in establishing a sustainable culture of on-site safety. More than addressing regulatory requirements, an excellent training program can help both employees and employers mitigate risk and avoid violations.
While Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) doesn’t provide these certifications themselves, they have accredited training providers who can facilitate such training and certify its students. Follow along as we dive into the basics of heavy equipment training and discuss what students can expect when taking the course.
What is Heavy Equipment Training?
Heavy equipment training covers a wide range of topics, machinery, and hands-on tasks, predominantly impacting employees in the construction and general industry sectors. Specifically, heavy equipment training focuses on educating students on how such machinery operates while providing in-depth safety tips to ensure that all appropriate employees stay protected when in close proximity to the heavy equipment.
Some examples of individual heavy equipment training courses cover operator safety for machinery such as sit-down forklift, boom truck , front-end loader, bulldozer, and dump truck. The training varies in length and format, but each heavy equipment training course is built to ensure that students are left with the knowledge that will help them operate well in the field.
Who Needs Heavy Equipment Training?
Individuals looking to operate heavy equipment, or whose job involves working in tight quarters with such machinery, will often be required by OSHA regulations to take heavy equipment training and earn their certification. Employees are often informed by their employer as to whether or not they are legally required, or required by company policy, to enroll in heavy equipment training programs.
For faster turnaround time and greater efficiency, it’s highly recommended to consider taking the training online. Companies, for one, benefit from group enrollment and discounts, in addition to having a real-time tracker that will show an individual’s progress and results.
Why Heavy Equipment Training is Important
Heavy equipment training not only keeps operators safe and compliant while on the job but ensures that workers know how to respond when things don’t go according to plan. Heavy equipment training also empowers workers to execute their jobs with confidence.
From heavy equipment basics to factors such as human behavior and environmental risks, workers will learn a great deal of information on how they can keep themselves safe and those around them while operating power tools and heavy equipment.
How to Register for Heavy Equipment Training
Signing up for training is relatively easy for both individuals and organizations thanks to online courses. Many providers will go as far as to offer bulk discounts for businesses looking to purchase heavy equipment training in bulk.
For employees, taking the course in advance could lead to more opportunities later on. It also serves as a slight advantage since the employer will now only have to test how well you adapt your skills hands-on. If it all goes well, that means you could be offered a contract and start on the job right away.
360training.com is one of the construction industry’s largest online training providers, providing safety programs to both worker and managers. Browse through our site to find the courses that best fit your professional training needs, like our 30-Hour Construction Safety Course.
