Occupational Profiles

This group performs some or all of the following duties:
 

• Operate heavy equipment such as backhoes, bulldozers, loaders and graders to excavate, move, load and grade earth, rock, gravel or other materials during construction and related activities
• Operate bulldozers or other heavy equipment to clear brush and stumps prior to logging activities and to build roads at logging and surface mining sites
• Operate heavy equipment with pile driver head to drive piling into earth to provide support for buildings, bridges or other structures
• Operate heavy dredging equipment to deepen waterways or reclaim earth fill
• Operate heavy paving and surfacing equipment to lay, spread or compact concrete, asphalt and other surface materials during highway and road construction
• Operate power shovels to excavate rock, ore or other materials from open-pit mines, strip mines, quarries or construction pits
• Operate heavy equipment to move, load and unload cargo
• Conduct pre-operational checks on equipment and clean, lubricate and refill equipment.

• Some secondary school education is required.
• Completion of a one- to two-year apprenticeship program or Some high school, college or industry courses in heavy equipment operating combined with on-the-job training are required.
• Trade certification for heavy equipment operator (dozer, excavator, tractor-loader-backhoe) is compulsory in Quebec and available, but voluntary, in Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Ontario.
• Internal company certification may be required by some employers.
• Red Seal endorsement is also available to qualified heavy equipment operators upon successful completion of the interprovincial Red Seal examination.