Skills Council of Canada

Overview

A Heavy Equipment Operator — Excavator operates an excavator, its attachments and ground engaging equipment in various types of projects across multiple industries, such as road construction and maintenance, mining, quarrying, land clearing, forestry, logging, as well as gas and oil. He/she inspects, maintains, transports and operates this equipment and its attachments. Specifically, a Heavy Equipment Operator — Excavator:

performs pre-operational inspections, safety and operational checks, preventative maintenance
monitors equipment performance
loads and unloads, transports, cleans, oils and refills equipment
reads and interprets government legislation, site plans and manufacturers’ manuals (i.e. survey indicators)
installs, operates and removes attachments (i.e. quick attach, buckets, rakes, levels, tillers, cutters, blades, grapples, pushers, vibrators and breakers)
performs operations, such as excavating, grading, ramp building, stockpiling, backfilling and towing, ensuring maximum productivity
checks grades, performs cut and fil operations, backfills trenches and excavations, creates slopes, creates mass excavations, clears land, strips surface materials, stockpiles and places materials, lifts materials, performs logging and surface mining operations, perform demolitions, bales snow.
communicates through various techniques including hand signals

Utility Arborist

Minimum Grade:

Industry:

Construction

Trade Code:

636B

Exam:

Classification:

Non-compulsory

Red Seal:

Yes

Education:

about 1 year

What is a skilled trade?

A skilled trade is a career path that requires hands-on work and specialty knowledge. Skilled trades workers build and maintain infrastructure like our homes, schools, hospitals, roads, farms and parks. They keep industries running and perform many services we rely on every day, like hairstyling, food preparation or social services. Benefits of a career in the skilled trades include: in-demand jobs and great earning potential using cutting-edge technology being paid while you learn on-the-job many paths to advance transferable skills

What is apprenticeship?

An apprenticeship is a pathway to a rewarding career in the trades. As an apprentice, you take classes and learn your trade by working under the direction of experienced workers – and get paid while you do it.Find out how to qualify, find a sponsor or employer to hire you, or get money or grants to help you pay for apprenticeship training and tools.

Regulated Trade?

If a trade is “Regulated - compulsory”, it means that it is illegal to work in this job if you are not certified in the trade or registered as an apprentice with that employer.- If a trade is “Regulated - voluntary”, it is an option to become certified so that you can prove your breadth of experience to employers. You are allowed to do this work without being certified, but it is the employer’s choice whether they prefer to hire someone who can show proof of their experience (i.e. be certified, have certain Welding tickets, etc.)- If a trade has a Red Seal exam available, passing the exam means that all provinces in Canada will recognize your full certification in that trade. You will not need to re-certify if you want to work in a different province.