How to Train an Equipment Operator
BY Sandy Lender
From maintenance to safety to proper equipment operation, training takes priority
Each autumn, we present the annual AsphaltPro Training Directory to help the industry identify events or entities that offer education for new and veteran employees. And each summer, as I prepare the content, I find myself repeating how important training is. This year is no different, but I’ve found myself aware of a renewed need to discuss the safety element behind training.
I don’t limit that concept to safety training. I mean teaching and reminding everyone of best practices for the purpose of executing a quality project safely. I also mean enticing an ample stable of workers into the fold with encouragement and education so they can be shown best practices for safe and quality work.
Engineer a Solution
As I was finishing this article for you, the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) dropped a press release announcing the results of its Q3 2024 Engineering Business Sentiment Study. The report showed that optimism in our industry is high.
“For the first time since the Institute began its quarterly surveys, industry executives are optimistic across all market sectors for future growth,” they wrote. But there’s a problem with that growth.
An area of concern is the lack of well-qualified candidates for employment across the industry. ACEC said 71% of the respondents predicted an increase in hiring over the next 12 months, but 78% of them believe the lack of qualified, trained, educated workers is a barrier to the growth they’re excited about. Basically, 9 out of 10 (89%) of firm leaders told ACEC that it’s difficult to find qualified engineers and 62% told ACEC that it’s challenging to find non-engineering staff.
“We’re simply not graduating enough engineers, and many of those who do graduate are international students who have difficulty staying in the country to apply the skills learned in American universities,” said Daphne Bryant, executive director of the ACEC Research Institute. “The workforce challenge remains one of the most pressing barriers to growth in our industry, which has significant implications for America’s economic growth and the future of our critical infrastructure.”
The good news is ACEC and the ACEC Research Institute aren’t letting this slide. They are among the entities we’ll talk about in this year’s training directory that offer opportunities to fix the problem.
In April, ACEC held its first Engineering and Public Works Workforce Summit with its partners, the American Public Works Association (APWA) and the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). This launched an Engineering Workforce Consortium to come up with potential policy solutions to our workforce problem. The Institute is engaged in a research project looking at the engineering “Firm of the Future” to explore what talent and skills will be needed to staff the firm of 2035. You can get more information about the program and training opportunities for engineers at https://www.acec.org/research-institute/.
Now let’s look at other entities and reasons behind training in the niche industry of asphalt paving and production.
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The “Why” of Operator Training
Most of the equipment-operation seminars you attend at a state asphalt pavement association (SAPA) lunch-and-learn or annual meeting or at a national convention like the National Pavement Expo (NPE) or CONEXPO-CON/AGG begin with an instructor reminding students to clean and maintain the machine. Almost every article I prepare with paving consultant John Ball includes a mention of cleaning the machine and I find myself curbing Ball’s enthusiasm for that topic.
The reason for the cleanliness topic’s popularity is its importance to the rest of equipment operation and safety. A dirty, gunked-up paver track isn’t going to roll smoothly along, thus isn’t going to allow smooth mat placement. This offers a quality control issue. If you have a worker reaching in to get a chunk of material out of the bogies during the forward motion of the paver, you have a setup for an accident.
Something more obvious for a team to recognize as dangerous is a broken strobe light atop the operator platform or forward conveyor of the milling machine. If the haul truck driver can’t see the mill at night, he’s more likely to back into the conveyor arm. If the traveling public can’t see the mill, something more catastrophic could happen.
Look to the condition of the reflective tape on every piece of equipment on your paving train. From the skid steers to the haul trucks to the distributor truck to the finish roller in the lonely dark so far behind the main action, these machines need clean and visible reflective tape that catches the light from oncoming traffic and makes it abundantly clear that your workspace is right in front of them. A warning sign that’s been smeared out by grease and asphalt on a haul truck is no longer of any use to you.
Clean and maintain your equipment for safety’s sake. Teach the newcomers to your team why it’s important to stop and clean a machine at the end of the shift. Train them on taking safety seriously.
Give Technology a Fighting Chance
You also want to train workers on the “why” behind newfangled technology on their equipment. We’ve all heard the stories of operators switching off automation and new controls systems at the paver or screed. This negative practice can be attributed to fear of the unknown, fear of technology in general, fear of the machine taking over the operator’s role or job, fear of looking foolish if the operator pushes the “wrong” button, fear of making a costly mistake if pushing the “wrong” button, and so on. What do you see as a common thread there?
As company owners, managers and trainers, it is up to the operators’ supervisors and upper management to alleviate fear through proper training. When someone is made to feel comfortable with new technology, that fear factor recedes, and confidence takes its place. Confidence in the equipment and technology means best and safest practices can be followed. Sometimes that means you need a team manager or leader who’s supporting the new tech—cheerleading the implementation—and helping the others learn.
There’s wisdom in appointing a person whom you train to be the trainer. There are entire programs set up to “train the trainer” who then goes back to the crew and makes sure each member of the crew is performing at peak efficiency.
One example of this is the Smith Systems driving instruction program that Woman of Asphalt Tracy Richard participates in for Aggregate Industries Northeast Region Inc., a division of Holcim. While she is the quality control technician for the company, she has been trained in the driving school and uses the down season each winter to train members of the Aggregate Industries team in the Smith Systems program.
Check out the WofA article featuring Tracy Richard in the May 2022 issue.
Another great example of building up trainers in your company is the First Aid program that Vince Hafeli, president of Ajax Paving Industries of Florida, has championed. While this human resources and safety related program isn’t training crew members on equipment operation, it is teaching personnel the importance of whole-body wellness and how to help one another on the job. It’s giving workers permission to say “I’m not okay” on those days or in those situations that could compromise personal and crew safety. It’s giving workers permission to help themselves and one another through the difficult conversations that surround mental health wellness in our industry. At this time, Ajax Paving has an in-house certified mental health first aid trainer who has trained approximately 50 employees.
Many Partners, Training Opportunities
When you look around your paving and production operation, what technologies and systems do you see where a trainer would be beneficial? Original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and software developers like Astec Industries, Blaw-Knox, Command Alkon, Gencor, Stansteel and Wirtgen not only partner with AsphaltPro Magazine to keep technical, how-to information coming to you every month, but they also provide training opportunities for your personnel.
Meet a Woman of Asphalt: Aggregate Industries’ Tracy Richard
Look at the Astec schools for starters. The OEM has multiple divisions under one roof and boasts on the training website: “Astec experts have hundreds of years of combined technical and application experience. We invest in your people who operate, maintain and service your Astec equipment for maximum production and decreased downtime. Our training solutions are offered throughout the year via factory training, on-site training, virtual online training, on-demand training and custom programs.”
Even though the company offers year ’round training opportunities, it also offers hands-on training during the scheduled Asphalt Customer Schools, Asphalt Burner School, a plant controls school, a paving professionals school and others too numerous to list.
The Blaw-Knox University, now in its 58th season, is dedicated to training paver operators and foremen on proper paver operation and maintenance, paver hydraulic and electrical systems, and applied best paving practices through several classroom-style and hands-on application courses. Check out their four-day university where paving professionals learn such topics as:
- paving safety on the job site;
- material quality;
- paving principles;
- hands-on paver preparation;
- paver and screed operation;
- joint construction;
- troubleshooting mat defects;
- automatic grade & slope operation with Blaw-Kontrol, Topcon or Moba; and
- daily maintenance.
Command Alkon offers a learning opportunity each autumn called the Elevate Conference and attaches training days to it to make travel and education one easy package for attendees.
Gencor Industries offers its four-day training courses in plant operation and maintenance to teach self-sufficiency. Years ago, Gencor adopted the philosophy of “self-help” when it came to plant-downs because the OEM felt no one but the plant personnel could respond fast enough to minimize the costly experience and be able to get up and running quickly, even if the OEM had a serviceman nearby. At Gencor University, expert instructors provide step-by-step comprehensive and concentrated training on a state-of-the-art control simulation and plant equipment to share the science and technology of hot-mix asphalt production. Gencor also offers custom training; contact them for more information.
Also check out Stansteel’s Hotmix University, which offers annually a four-day course for plant managers called the Managers Exchange and two four-day sessions for operators called Operators Course.
Wirtgen Group also offers training in their state-side training center, a robust facility with classroom and outdoor demonstration areas for attendees. The company’s Center for Training and Technology (CTT) is located outside Nashville and hosts multiple courses. Because the courses include crushing, screening, cold planing, paving, compaction and more, customers have options for training.
Of course, there are many OEMs and service providers beyond these six who offer in-house training, dealer-sponsored training, customized training at your facility and other forms of education to help you build the confidence and skills of your workforce. It is as easy as picking up the phone to call your dealer to ask about what training help is available. If you’ve purchased equipment second-hand or at an auction, you might not have a relationship with the local dealer, but you shouldn’t let that stop you from inquiring. Most dealers will be happy to begin and build a relationship with you if you have a piece of equipment they know and understand—and know you’ll want to replace someday.
Also look to our industry for consultants who can assist you in training the basics that go beyond the piece of equipment in front of your worker. If you’re a regular reader of AsphaltPro, you know we often feature back-to-basic, how-to articles from paving consultant John Ball, who has been in the industry for decades. You can reach out to him by phone or email and see where in his crowded schedule you might fit for some one-on-one, in-person help for your crew.
Also look to those entities offering online training that you can accomplish during rainy days and the down season. AsphaltPro Magazine has an online training course with eight modules, each containing separate lessons, to help your new workers get their feet on the ground. We also recommend the course for veteran employees who’ve been away all winter and are looking for a refresher on the basics that will keep them performing efficiently and safely.
You can train your paving crew online as many times as you want, for one set price. AsphaltPro Magazine offers Asphalt Paving 101. This back-to-basics course is available to everyone on your crew with the purchase of only one subscription. Take the online course as many times as you need to with as many crewmembers as you need to for life with that one purchase. Visit here.
Beyond the OEMs and service providers, there are associations—like the aforementioned SAPAs—that offer education for free, as part of your annual dues or for a nominal fee if you aren’t a member. Definitely look into the opportunities the industry associations offer. And don’t forget that entities like the National Center for Asphalt Technology (NCAT) at Auburn University, Transportation Research Board (TRB) and The Center for Construction Research and Training (CPWR) offer in-person and online seminars and webinars for a variety of educational opportunities.
Training is all around you all the time. Take advantage of continuing education and focused training to bring your workers up to speed on not only equipment operation, but also best practices for top quality project execution and their safest work environments.