Learning to Drive A Truck

I used to work in a construction company which used to be very active in the construction sector. I wasn’t involved much on the construction site but used to accompany my boss down there occasionally to check the on-going progress on site. I used to watch the way the heavy equipment operators managed their heavy equipment, be it cranes or excavators and I used to think that it couldn’t be that difficult as all the controls and levers were quite basic. I thought it was as easy as driving a car till my boss told me that operators had to be specially trained for that job! All operators, upon joining, will first be sent to the Heavy Equipment Operator School, one of the premier schools for heavy equipment operation. They have been training people for over 16 years and have been in operation for over 40 years. There, they will learn a variety of heavy equipment and construction related trucking from backhoe training, bulldozer training and excavator training to front end loader training. I thought it was a great program though as this meant that less educated youths could be taught how to operate heavy machinery and still find employment. Heavy Equipment training should definitely be encouraged, not only to reduce the accident rates but to also open up more opportunities for workers.