Heavy Equipment Technician

Introduction

The purpose of this position is to operate a variety of engineering equipment in support of an all-hazard incident.

Duties

• Operates gasoline or diesel powered engineering and construction equipment with wheeled or crawler type traction such as graders, tractors with bulldozer or angle dozer blades, frontend loaders, backhoes, and large industrial-type tractors with multiple attachments.
• Supports all-hazard incidents by utilizing heavy equipment to clear trails and roadways, dig drainage ditches, build earthen dikes and levees, and remove trees, and deadfall that present hazards to team members or visitors.
• Loads, transports, and delivers a variety of materials and equipment to locations within the incident and surrounding area.
• Cooperates with and assists incident commanders, emergency response teams, police officers, medical services and fire suppression resources requiring heavy equipment support.
• Operates a variety of government vehicles to perform other non-emergency driving assignments.
• Utilizes required Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), and adheres to all safety procedures.
• Accounts for, utilizes, maintains, and makes minor repairs of all issued equipment.
• Performs additional tasks or duties as assigned during a mission.

Position Knowledge and/or Requirements

• Operates one or more types of heavy equipment to push, pull, pile, or load materials such as sand, gravel, and earth using a front-end loader to maneuver to a specific spot to transfer material into a dump truck, or build temporary earthen structures.
• Uses a bulldozer to clear brush, tree stumps and rocks from roadways, trails, or staging areas.  Attachments are adjusted for proper level, angle, or depth depending on the kind of work performed.  Work is generally done on flat or rolling terrain, and construction sites with simple terrain problems.
• Uses different sets of controls, for the operation of equipment and attachments, and is skilled in handling these controls to perform the work.  Controls are often operated simultaneously requiring good hand, foot, and eye coordination.
• Ability to move the equipment around in confined spaces.
• Basic knowledge of the nature of soil and features of the terrain are required in order to determine the proper approach according to the condition of the surface and subsurface.

Supervisory Controls

Work is performed under the direction of an Incident Commander or other supervisor, and follows oral or written instructions concerning the location of the job and the work to be done.  Work is performed largely without direct supervision.  Equipment is operated in a safe manner in accordance with safety rules and regulations in order to avoid injury, and damage to the equipment or nearby structures.

Physical Demands

Heavy physical effort is used in constantly reaching, turning, and bending and moving hands, arms, feet, and legs to operate different sets of controls to operate the equipment and attachments. Considerable strain is caused by the constant vibration of the equipment and the jerking and jolting from operating over rough surfaces.

Work Environment

Work is performed in all kinds of weather, day or night, often in an open driver’s seat or platform, on hills, slopes, grades, and rolling surfaces.  Operators are exposed to injury due to the possibility of equipment overturning.  They are exposed to noise, vibration, dust, dirt, and fumes from the motor and exhaust.