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Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operators, Surface Mining

Operate or tend machinery at surface mining site, equipped with scoops, shovels, or buckets to excavate and load loose materials.

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    Work Activities

    Work Activities

    • Handle slides, mud, or pit cleanings or maintenance.
    • Measure and verify levels of rock or gravel, bases, or other excavated material.
    • Move levers, depress foot pedals, and turn dials to operate power machinery, such as power shovels, stripping shovels, scraper loaders, or backhoes.
    • Create or maintain inclines or ramps.
    • Adjust dig face angles for varying overburden depths and set lengths.
    • Set up or inspect equipment prior to operation.
    • Observe hand signals, grade stakes, or other markings when operating machines so that work can be performed to specifications.
    • Operate machinery to perform activities such as backfilling excavations, vibrating or breaking rock or concrete, or making winter roads.
    • Receive written or oral instructions regarding material movement or excavation.
    • Move materials over short distances, such as around a construction site, factory, or warehouse.
    • Direct workers engaged in placing blocks or outriggers to prevent capsizing of machines when lifting heavy loads.
    • Lubricate, adjust, or repair machinery and replace parts, such as gears, bearings, or bucket teeth.
    • Measure and verify levels of rock or gravel, bases, or other excavated material.
    • Become familiar with digging plans, machine capabilities and limitations, and efficient and safe digging procedures in a given application.
    • Create or maintain inclines or ramps.
    • Direct ground workers engaged in activities such as moving stakes or markers, or changing positions of towers.
    • Drive machines to work sites.
    • Perform manual labor to prepare or finish sites, such as shoveling materials by hand.

    Skills

    • Persuasion

      Talking people into changing their minds or their behavior.

    • Operations Analysis

      Figuring out what a product or service needs to be able to do.

    • Technology Design

      Making equipment and technology useful for customers.

    • Management of Personnel Resources

      Selecting and managing the best workers for a job.

    • Repairing

      Repairing machines or systems using the right tools.

    • Quality Control Analysis

      Testing how well a product or service works.

    • Time Management

      Managing your time and the time of other people.

    • Writing

      Writing things for co-workers or customers.

    • Speaking

      Talking to others.

    • Reading Comprehension

      Reading work-related information.

    • Troubleshooting

      Figuring out what is causing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs to not work.

    • Judgment and Decision Making

      Thinking about the pros and cons of different options and picking the best one.

    • Management of Material Resources

      Managing equipment and materials.

    • Active Learning

      Figuring out how to use new ideas or things.

    • Coordination

      Changing what is done based on other people's actions.

    • Instructing

      Teaching people how to do something.

    • Service Orientation

      Looking for ways to help people.

    • Complex Problem Solving

      Noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it.

    • Programming

      Writing computer programs.

    • Operation and Control

      Using equipment or systems.

    • Science

      Using scientific rules and strategies to solve problems.

    • Monitoring

      Keeping track of how well people and/or groups are doing in order to make improvements.

    • Social Perceptiveness

      Understanding people's reactions.

    • Negotiation

      Bringing people together to solve differences.

    • Equipment Selection

      Deciding what kind of tools and equipment are needed to do a job.

    • Installation

      Installing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs.

    • Operations Monitoring

      Watching gauges, dials, or display screens to make sure a machine is working.

    • Equipment Maintenance

      Planning and doing the basic maintenance on equipment.

    • Mathematics

      Using math to solve problems.

    • Critical Thinking

      Thinking about the pros and cons of different ways to solve a problem.

    • Systems Analysis

      Figuring out how a system should work and how changes in the future will affect it.

    • Systems Evaluation

      Measuring how well a system is working and how to improve it.

    • Management of Financial Resources

      Making spending decisions and keeping track of what is spent.

    • Learning Strategies

      Using the best training or teaching strategies for learning new things.

    • Active Listening

      Listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions.

    WorkKeys®

    Applied Math
    N/A
    Workplace Documents
    N/A
    Graphic Literacy
    N/A

    Abilities

    • Auditory Attention

      Paying attention to one sound while there are other distracting sounds.

    • Oral Comprehension

      Listening and understanding what people say.

    • Arm-Hand Steadiness

      Keeping your arm or hand steady.

    • Selective Attention

      Paying attention to something without being distracted.

    • Spatial Orientation

      Knowing where things are around you.

    • Reaction Time

      Quickly moving your hand, finger, or foot based on a sound, light, picture or other command.

    • Dynamic Flexibility

      Quickly and repeatedly bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching out with your body, arms, and/or legs.

    • Trunk Strength

      Using your lower back and stomach.

    • Night Vision

      Seeing at night or under low light.

    • Peripheral Vision

      Seeing something to your side when your are looking ahead.

    • Originality

      Creating new and original ideas.

    • Information Ordering

      Ordering or arranging things.

    • Glare Sensitivity

      Seeing something even if there is a glare or very bright light.

    • Depth Perception

      Deciding which thing is closer or farther away from you, or deciding how far away it is from you.

    • Written Comprehension

      Reading and understanding what is written.

    • Visual Color Discrimination

      Noticing the difference between colors, including shades and brightness.

    • Gross Body Equilibrium

      Keeping your balance or staying upright.

    • Sound Localization

      Noticing the direction that a sound came from.

    • Oral Expression

      Communicating by speaking.

    • Category Flexibility

      Grouping things in different ways.

    • Speed of Limb Movement

      Quickly moving your arms and legs.

    • Multilimb Coordination

      Using your arms and/or legs together while sitting, standing, or lying down.

    • Written Expression

      Communicating by writing.

    • Fluency of Ideas

      Coming up with lots of ideas.

    • Deductive Reasoning

      Using rules to solve problems.

    • Mathematical Reasoning

      Choosing the right type of math to solve a problem.

    • Flexibility of Closure

      Seeing hidden patterns.

    • Perceptual Speed

      Quickly comparing groups of letters, numbers, pictures, or other things.

    • Response Orientation

      Quickly deciding if you should move your hand, foot, or other body part.

    • Static Strength

      Lifting, pushing, pulling, or carrying.

    • Dynamic Strength

      Exercising for a long time without your muscles getting tired.

    • Stamina

      Exercising for a long time without getting out of breath.

    • Far Vision

      Seeing details that are far away.

    • Near Vision

      Seeing details up close.

    • Speech Clarity

      Speaking clearly.

    • Wrist-Finger Speed

      Making fast, simple, repeated movements of your fingers, hands, and wrists.

    • Manual Dexterity

      Holding or moving items with your hands.

    • Time Sharing

      Doing two or more things at the same time.

    • Finger Dexterity

      Putting together small parts with your fingers.

    • Number Facility

      Adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing.

    • Speed of Closure

      Quickly knowing what you are looking at.

    • Speech Recognition

      Recognizing spoken words.

    • Hearing Sensitivity

      Telling the difference between sounds.

    • Problem Sensitivity

      Noticing when problems happen.

    • Inductive Reasoning

      Making general rules or coming up with answers from lots of detailed information.

    • Memorization

      Remembering words, numbers, pictures, or steps.

    • Control Precision

      Quickly changing the controls of a machine, car, truck or boat.

    • Rate Control

      Changing when and how fast you move based on how something else is moving.

    • Visualization

      Imagining how something will look after it is moved around or changed.

    • Explosive Strength

      Jumping, sprinting, or throwing something.

    • Extent Flexibility

      Bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching with your body, arms, and/or legs.

    • Gross Body Coordination

      Moving your arms, legs, and mid-section together while your whole body is moving.

    Knowledge

    • Transportation

      Knowledge of principles and methods for moving people or goods by air, rail, sea, or road, including the relative costs and benefits.

    • Psychology

      Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.

    • Food Production

      Knowledge of techniques and equipment for planting, growing, and harvesting food products (both plant and animal) for consumption, including storage/handling techniques.

    • Design

      Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models.

    • Geography

      Knowledge of principles and methods for describing the features of land, sea, and air masses, including their physical characteristics, locations, interrelationships, and distribution of plant, animal, and human life.

    • Sociology and Anthropology

      Knowledge of group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures, and their history and origins.

    • Communications and Media

      Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.

    • Education and Training

      Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.

    • Telecommunications

      Knowledge of transmission, broadcasting, switching, control, and operation of telecommunications systems.

    • Foreign Language

      Knowledge of the structure and content of a foreign (non-English) language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition and grammar, and pronunciation.

    • Administration and Management

      Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.

    • History and Archeology

      Knowledge of historical events and their causes, indicators, and effects on civilizations and cultures.

    • Economics and Accounting

      Knowledge of economic and accounting principles and practices, the financial markets, banking, and the analysis and reporting of financial data.

    • Physics

      Knowledge and prediction of physical principles, laws, their interrelationships, and applications to understanding fluid, material, and atmospheric dynamics, and mechanical, electrical, atomic and sub-atomic structures and processes.

    • Administrative

      Knowledge of administrative and office procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and workplace terminology.

    • Mathematics

      Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.

    • Biology

      Knowledge of plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, interdependencies, and interactions with each other and the environment.

    • Production and Processing

      Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.

    • Mechanical

      Knowledge of machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.

    • English Language

      Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.

    • Philosophy and Theology

      Knowledge of different philosophical systems and religions. This includes their basic principles, values, ethics, ways of thinking, customs, practices, and their impact on human culture.

    • Fine Arts

      Knowledge of the theory and techniques required to compose, produce, and perform works of music, dance, visual arts, drama, and sculpture.

    • Law and Government

      Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.

    • Public Safety and Security

      Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.

    • Personnel and Human Resources

      Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.

    • Computers and Electronics

      Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.

    • Building and Construction

      Knowledge of materials, methods, and the tools involved in the construction or repair of houses, buildings, or other structures such as highways and roads.

    • Medicine and Dentistry

      Knowledge of the information and techniques needed to diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities. This includes symptoms, treatment alternatives, drug properties and interactions, and preventive health-care measures.

    • Customer and Personal Service

      Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.

    • Sales and Marketing

      Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.

    • Chemistry

      Knowledge of the chemical composition, structure, and properties of substances and of the chemical processes and transformations that they undergo. This includes uses of chemicals and their interactions, danger signs, production techniques, and disposal methods.

    • Engineering and Technology

      Knowledge of the practical application of engineering science and technology. This includes applying principles, techniques, procedures, and equipment to the design and production of various goods and services.

    • Therapy and Counseling

      Knowledge of principles, methods, and procedures for diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of physical and mental dysfunctions, and for career counseling and guidance.

    Career Video

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    Pay

    • Ohio Annual Salary 48100/yr
    • Typical Salary
    • Ohio Hourly Wage 23.13/hr
    • Typical Hourly Wage

    Ohio Employment Trends

    • Currently Employed 850
    • Yearly Projected Openings 80

    Typical Education

    Personality

    Realistic: People interested in this work like activities that include practical, hands-on problems and solutions.They do well at jobs that need:
    • Dependability
    • Attention to Detail
    • Stress Tolerance
    • Adaptability/Flexibility
    • Cooperation
    • Integrity

    Tools

    • Acoustic ear muffs or defenders
    • Adjustable wrenches
    • Backhoes
    • Batching plants or feeders
    • Boring or sinking machinery
    • Claw hammer
    • Crusher hammer
    • Draglines
    • Dump trucks
    • Earthmoving buckets or its parts or accessories
    • Flatbed trailers
    • Forklifts
    • Front end loaders
    • Goggles
    • Grapples
    • Grease guns
    • Levels
    • Locking pliers
    • Low bed trailer
    • Mainframe console or dumb terminals
    • Mobile excavators
    • Respirators
    • Rock crushers
    • Screwdrivers
    • Skid steer loaders
    • Slings
    • Tape measures
    • Tire pressure gauge
    • Touch screen monitors
    • Track excavators
    • Water trucks
    • Wheel chocks
    • Wheel excavators
    • Wheel loaders

    Technology

    • Electronic mail software
    • Industrial control software
    • Office suite software
    • Operating system software
    • Presentation software
    • Spreadsheet software
    • Word processing software

    Tags

    • Apprenticeships are available for this occupation. These programs can help you get hands-on experience and build your skills.
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