NCCER Heavy Equipment cheat sheet

OSHA's construction "Focus Four" hazard groups are falls, struck-by, caught-in/between, and electrical.

Personnel stay outside an excavator's swing radius; the counterweight tail swing can extend well beyond the track width.

If a hand signal is not clearly understood, the operator stops the machine and waits until communication is re-established.

A seat belt must be worn whenever a machine equipped with ROPS is in operation.

Mount and dismount facing the machine using three points of contact; never jump from the cab or steps.

Buried utilities are located through the 811 notification before digging, and digging inside the marked tolerance zone (commonly 18-24 in on each side of the mark) is done by hand.

A spotter is required when reversing a machine whose rear view is blocked; the spotter stays in the operator's view and out of the travel path.

Hard hat, safety-toe boots, high-visibility apparel, and eye and hearing protection are standard PPE around heavy equipment.

Never work or walk under a raised attachment or a suspended load.

The pre-shift walk-around covers fluid levels, leaks, hoses and belts, tires or tracks, pins and bushings, guards, lights, horn, backup alarm, and seat belt.

Check engine oil with the machine level and shut down; check coolant only when the engine is cold and the cap is loosened slowly.

Maintenance intervals are scheduled from the hour meter rather than from calendar time alone.

Track tension that is too loose causes derailment; tension that is too tight accelerates wear on pins, bushings, and sprockets.

Before cranking, confirm all controls are in neutral, the parking brake is set, and personnel are clear of the machine.

A damaged ROPS or FOPS is repaired or replaced per the manufacturer; it is never welded, drilled, or bent in the field.

Pressurized hydraulic oil can be injected through skin at a pinhole leak; check for leaks with cardboard, never a bare hand.

Service the air cleaner when the restriction indicator shows; never run the engine with the filter element removed.

Sprocket teeth, bushing wear, and idler condition are measured during inspections to plan undercarriage replacement.

Stop signal: arm extended horizontally to the side, palm down, swung back and forth.

Emergency stop: both arms extended horizontally to the sides, palms down, swung back and forth.

Raise load: arm extended, palm up, hand moved upward; lower load: arm extended, palm down, hand moved downward.

Joystick patterns differ between machines; confirm the ISO or SAE/backhoe pattern before operating an unfamiliar unit.

Lifting capacity decreases as load radius increases; the load chart, not operator judgment, sets the limit.

Crawler machines climb and descend slopes straight up or down, not across the face of the slope.

Keep the bucket or attachment low while traveling to maintain a low center of gravity and preserve sight lines.

On shutdown: lower the attachment to the ground, neutralize the controls, set the parking brake, and idle before stopping the engine.

Never leave the operator's seat with the engine running and the attachment raised.

Bank cubic yard (BCY) is soil in its natural state, loose cubic yard (LCY) is excavated soil, and compacted cubic yard (CCY) is soil after in-place compaction.

Swell percent = (LCY - BCY) / BCY x 100.

Load factor = BCY / LCY, so BCY = LCY x load factor.

Shrinkage percent = (BCY - CCY) / BCY x 100.

OSHA soil types by unconfined compressive strength: Type A is 1.5 tons per square foot or greater, Type B is 0.5 to 1.5, and Type C is less than 0.5.

Type A is not allowed for fissured soil, soil subject to vibration, or previously disturbed soil; those are classified Type B or Type C.

Maximum allowable slopes (horizontal to vertical): Type A 3/4:1, Type B 1:1, Type C 1.5:1.

A soil compacted at its optimum moisture content reaches maximum dry density; wetter or drier soil compacts to a lower density.

Granular soil drains quickly and is prone to running or caving; cohesive clay holds a slope better but cracks and slakes as it dries.

A trench is an excavation that is deeper than it is wide and not more than 15 ft wide at the bottom.

A protective system is required at 5 ft depth or more unless the excavation is entirely in stable rock; a competent person may require one at a shallower depth.

At 4 ft depth or more, a ladder or ramp is required within 25 ft of lateral travel for every worker.

A competent person inspects the excavation daily before workers enter and after rain, vibration, or any change in conditions.

Spoils, materials, and equipment are kept at least 2 ft back from the edge of the excavation.

Shoring supports the trench walls; a shield or trench box protects the workers but does not shore the walls.

Accumulated water is controlled and removed before workers enter the trench.

Utilities inside the tolerance zone are exposed by hand digging, and the utility owner is contacted when the markings are unclear.

Never enter an unprotected trench, and never assume soil will stand on its own.

Elevation is vertical distance above or below a datum; a benchmark is a fixed point of known elevation.

Percent grade = (rise / run) x 100; a 2 percent slope falls 2.00 ft over a horizontal distance of 100 ft.

Cut = existing elevation minus design elevation; a positive result means material is removed.

Fill = design elevation minus existing elevation; a positive result means material is added.

A full station is 100 ft along the baseline, and a half station is 50 ft.

A smaller rod reading means the ground is higher, because the line of sight strikes the rod lower.

Contour lines spaced closely together indicate a steep slope; widely spaced lines indicate flatter ground.

A slope stake marks the catch point where the designed cut or fill slope meets the original ground surface.

Subgrade is proofrolled and compacted and accepted before base or surfacing material is placed on it.

Dozer cycle: cut and load the blade, push the load, then return; return travel is nonproductive time.

Slot dozing pushes repeatedly in the same channel so the ridges contain the load and spillage is reduced.

Dozing downhill uses gravity to increase blade load, while uphill pushing reduces production.

Crawler dozers suit short pushes and rough ground; rubber-tired machines travel faster between work areas.

Loader cycle: load, travel, dump, return; cycle time rather than bucket size alone sets production.

Carry the loader bucket low and rolled back when traveling, because a raised bucket raises the center of gravity.

Self-loading scrapers work best in sandy, silty, or loamy material and are not suited to rock or very hard soil.

Push-loading with a dozer shortens scraper load time and increases production in stiff soils.

On an articulated loader, the area between the front and rear frames is a pinch point; the frame lock is engaged for service.

Excavator lifting capacity is greatest with the load close in and over the idler or dozer blade, and lowest at maximum reach over the side.

Do not use swing force to break material loose or to drag a load sideways; it overloads the boom and swing gear.

A backhoe loader is set with the stabilizers down and the loader bucket lowered to the ground before digging.

When traveling an excavator, keep the drive sprockets to the rear and the bucket low and ahead of the machine.

Motor grader blade functions include lift, circle rotation, pitch, side shift, articulation, and wheel lean.

Blade pitch controls material behavior: a rolled-back blade carries and mixes, while a forward-tipped blade cuts and casts.

Wheel lean on a motor grader counteracts side draft when cutting a bank or windrowing material.

Grader ditch work starts at the ditch line and works outward, keeping the toe of the blade on grade.

An excavator is used to lift only within its load chart, and it is never used to lift personnel unless set up and rated for that purpose.