Excavator Operator

Operation of equipment to excavate, move, and grade earth, erect structures, or pour hard surface such as pavement or concrete. May repair and maintain equipment in addition to other duties.

Job Description:

• Learn and follow safety regulations.
• Take actions to avoid potential hazards or obstructions, such as utility lines, other equipment, other workers, or falling objects.
• Adjust handwheels and depress pedals to control attachments, such as blades, buckets, scrapers, or swing booms.
• Start engines, move throttles, switches, or levers, or depress pedals to operate machines, such as bulldozers, trench excavators, road graders, or backhoes.
• Locate underground services, such as pipes or wires, prior to beginning work.
• Monitor operations to ensure that health and safety standards are met.
• Align machine depth gauge makers with reference stakes and guidelines or ground or position equipment, following hand signals of other workers.
• Load and move dirt, rocks, equipment, or other materials, using trucks, crawler tractors, power cranes, shovels, graders, or related equipment.
• Coordinate machine actions with other activities, positioning or moving loads in response to hand or audio signals from crew members.
• Operate tractors or bulldozers to perform such tasks as clearing land, mixing sludge, trimming backfills, or building roadways or parking lots.
• Repair and maintain equipment, making emergency adjustments or assisting with major repairs as necessary.
• Check fuel supplies at sites to ensure adequate availability.
• Connect hydraulic hoses, belts, mechanical linkages, or power takeoff shafts to tractors.
• Operate loaders to pull out stumps, rip asphalt or concrete, rough-grade properties, bury refuse, or perform general cleanup.
• Select and fasten bulldozer blades or other attachments to tractors, using hitches.
• Signal operators to guide movement of tractor-drawn machines.
• Push other equipment when extra traction or assistance is required.
• Keep records of material or equipment usage or problems encountered.
• Operate equipment to demolish or remove debris or to remove snow from streets, roads, or parking lots.

Job Requirements:

• Must be able to understand work directions and communicate effectively with job site foremen, supervisor and fellow employees
• Must be able work eight (8) to ten (10) hours per day, performing work outdoors in all types of weather, including extreme heat
• Job requires standing, kneeling, lifting up to sixty (60) pounds, pulling, squatting and walking
• Maintains constant awareness of the jobsite’s various concurrent activities, including the activities of the other employees and contractors, the operation of stationary equipment, and the movement of mobile equipment.
• Willingness and ability to perform manual work

Disclaimer

The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by people assigned to this classification. They are not to be construed as an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties, and skills required of personnel so classified. All personnel may be required to perform duties outside of their normal responsibilities from time to time, as needed.

DFWP/EEO/AAP: Minorities/Females/Disabled/Vets