Paving, Surfacing, and Tamping Equipment Operator Operate equipment used for applying concrete, asphalt, or other materials to road beds, parking lots, or airport runways and taxiways or for tamping gravel, dirt, or other materials. Includes concrete and asphalt paving machine operators, form tampers, tamping machine operators, and stone spreader operators.
Paving, Surfacing, and Tamping Equipment Operator is Also Know as
In different settings, Paving, Surfacing, and Tamping Equipment Operator is titled as
- Asphalt Paver Operator
- Asphalt Paving Machine Operator
- Asphalt Raker
- Asphalt Roller Operator
- Equipment Operator (EO)
- Loader Operator
- Maintenance Equipment Operator (MEO)
- Paver Operator
- Roller Operator
- Screed Operator
Education and Training of Paving, Surfacing, and Tamping Equipment Operator
Paving, Surfacing, and Tamping Equipment Operator is categorized in Job Zone Two: Some Preparation Needed
Experience Required for Paving, Surfacing, and Tamping Equipment Operator
Some previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is usually needed. For example, a teller would benefit from experience working directly with the public.
Education Required for Paving, Surfacing, and Tamping Equipment Operator
These occupations usually require a high school diploma.
Degrees Related to Paving, Surfacing, and Tamping Equipment Operator
- Bachelor in Construction/Heavy Equipment/Earthmoving Equipment
- Associate Degree Courses in Construction/Heavy Equipment/Earthmoving Equipment
- Masters Degree Courses in Construction/Heavy Equipment/Earthmoving Equipment
Training Required for Paving, Surfacing, and Tamping Equipment Operator
Employees in these occupations need anywhere from a few months to one year of working with experienced employees. A recognized apprenticeship program may be associated with these occupations.
Related Ocuupations
Some Ocuupations related to Paving, Surfacing, and Tamping Equipment Operator in different industries are
- Construction Laborers
- Operating Engineers and Other Construction Equipment Operators
- Cement Masons and Concrete Finishers
- Segmental Pavers
- Pile Driver Operators
- Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operators, Surface Mining
- Rail-Track Laying and Maintenance Equipment Operators
- Pipelayers
- Hoist and Winch Operators
- Highway Maintenance Workers
- Maintenance Workers, Machinery
- Woodworking Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Except Sawing
- Mobile Heavy Equipment Mechanics, Except Engines
- Millwrights
- Roustabouts, Oil and Gas
- Industrial Machinery Mechanics
- Grinding and Polishing Workers, Hand
- Terrazzo Workers and Finishers
- Continuous Mining Machine Operators
- Earth Drillers, Except Oil and Gas
What Do Paving, Surfacing, and Tamping Equipment Operator do?
- Start machine, engage clutch, and push and move levers to guide machine along forms or guidelines and to control the operation of machine attachments.
- Inspect, clean, maintain, and repair equipment, using mechanics' hand tools, or report malfunctions to supervisors.
- Operate machines to spread, smooth, level, or steel-reinforce stone, concrete, or asphalt on road beds.
- Operate oil distributors, loaders, chip spreaders, dump trucks, and snow plows.
- Coordinate truck dumping.
- Set up and tear down equipment.
- Operate tamping machines or manually roll surfaces to compact earth fills, foundation forms, and finished road materials, according to grade specifications.
- Shovel blacktop.
- Drive machines onto truck trailers, and drive trucks to transport machines and material to and from job sites.
- Observe distribution of paving material to adjust machine settings or material flow, and indicate low spots for workers to add material.
- Light burners or start heating units of machines, and regulate screed temperatures and asphalt flow rates.
- Control paving machines to push dump trucks and to maintain a constant flow of asphalt or other material into hoppers or screeds.
- Set up forms and lay out guidelines for curbs, according to written specifications, using string, spray paint, and concrete or water mixes.
- Fill tanks, hoppers, or machines with paving materials.
- Drive and operate curbing machines to extrude concrete or asphalt curbing.
- Cut or break up pavement and drive guardrail posts, using machines equipped with interchangeable hammers.
- Install dies, cutters, and extensions to screeds onto machines, using hand tools.
- Operate machines that clean or cut expansion joints in concrete or asphalt and that rout out cracks in pavement.
- Place strips of material, such as cork, asphalt, or steel into joints, or place rolls of expansion-joint material on machines that automatically insert material.
- Control traffic.
Qualities of Good Paving, Surfacing, and Tamping Equipment Operator
- Control Precision: The ability to quickly and repeatedly adjust the controls of a machine or a vehicle to exact positions.
- Problem Sensitivity: The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
- Multilimb Coordination: The ability to coordinate two or more limbs (for example, two arms, two legs, or one leg and one arm) while sitting, standing, or lying down. It does not involve performing the activities while the whole body is in motion.
- Reaction Time: The ability to quickly respond (with the hand, finger, or foot) to a signal (sound, light, picture) when it appears.
- Rate Control: The ability to time your movements or the movement of a piece of equipment in anticipation of changes in the speed and/or direction of a moving object or scene.
- Far Vision: The ability to see details at a distance.
- Trunk Strength: The ability to use your abdominal and lower back muscles to support part of the body repeatedly or continuously over time without "giving out" or fatiguing.
- Static Strength: The ability to exert maximum muscle force to lift, push, pull, or carry objects.
- Visualization: The ability to imagine how something will look after it is moved around or when its parts are moved or rearranged.
- Response Orientation: The ability to choose quickly between two or more movements in response to two or more different signals (lights, sounds, pictures). It includes the speed with which the correct response is started with the hand, foot, or other body part.
- Selective Attention: The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
- Arm-Hand Steadiness: The ability to keep your hand and arm steady while moving your arm or while holding your arm and hand in one position.
- Manual Dexterity: The ability to quickly move your hand, your hand together with your arm, or your two hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects.
- Oral Comprehension: The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
- Extent Flexibility: The ability to bend, stretch, twist, or reach with your body, arms, and/or legs.
- Depth Perception: The ability to judge which of several objects is closer or farther away from you, or to judge the distance between you and an object.
- Speech Recognition: The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
- Speech Clarity: The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
- Oral Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
- Deductive Reasoning: The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
- Information Ordering: The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
- Spatial Orientation: The ability to know your location in relation to the environment or to know where other objects are in relation to you.
- Time Sharing: The ability to shift back and forth between two or more activities or sources of information (such as speech, sounds, touch, or other sources).
- Finger Dexterity: The ability to make precisely coordinated movements of the fingers of one or both hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble very small objects.
- Near Vision: The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
- Perceptual Speed: The ability to quickly and accurately compare similarities and differences among sets of letters, numbers, objects, pictures, or patterns. The things to be compared may be presented at the same time or one after the other. This ability also includes comparing a presented object with a remembered object.
- Hearing Sensitivity: The ability to detect or tell the differences between sounds that vary in pitch and loudness.
- Stamina: The ability to exert yourself physically over long periods of time without getting winded or out of breath.
- Inductive Reasoning: The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
- Category Flexibility: The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
- Auditory Attention: The ability to focus on a single source of sound in the presence of other distracting sounds.
- Gross Body Coordination: The ability to coordinate the movement of your arms, legs, and torso together when the whole body is in motion.
- Flexibility of Closure: The ability to identify or detect a known pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden in other distracting material.
- Written Comprehension: The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
- Dynamic Strength: The ability to exert muscle force repeatedly or continuously over time. This involves muscular endurance and resistance to muscle fatigue.
- Visual Color Discrimination: The ability to match or detect differences between colors, including shades of color and brightness.
- Wrist-Finger Speed: The ability to make fast, simple, repeated movements of the fingers, hands, and wrists.
- Peripheral Vision: The ability to see objects or movement of objects to one's side when the eyes are looking ahead.
- Speed of Limb Movement: The ability to quickly move the arms and legs.
- Glare Sensitivity: The ability to see objects in the presence of a glare or bright lighting.
- Gross Body Equilibrium: The ability to keep or regain your body balance or stay upright when in an unstable position.
- Memorization: The ability to remember information such as words, numbers, pictures, and procedures.
- Speed of Closure: The ability to quickly make sense of, combine, and organize information into meaningful patterns.
- Number Facility: The ability to add, subtract, multiply, or divide quickly and correctly.
- Mathematical Reasoning: The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem.
- Written Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
- Originality: The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
- Sound Localization: The ability to tell the direction from which a sound originated.
- Explosive Strength: The ability to use short bursts of muscle force to propel oneself (as in jumping or sprinting), or to throw an object.
- Fluency of Ideas: The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
- Night Vision: The ability to see under low-light conditions.
- Dynamic Flexibility: The ability to quickly and repeatedly bend, stretch, twist, or reach out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
Tools Used by Paving, Surfacing, and Tamping Equipment Operator
- Adjustable wrenches
- Asphalt distributor trucks
- Asphalt heating equipment
- Asphalt mixing equipment
- Asphalt paving machines
- Asphalt rakes
- Automatic paving control systems
- Chip spreaders
- Claw hammers
- Cold in-place recyclers
- Cold planers
- Compactors
- Concrete paving machines
- Concrete saws
- Desktop computers
- Dump trucks
- Flatbed truck trailers
- Hot mix material transfer devices
- Jackhammers
- Laser levels
- Liquid asphalt storage equipment
- Locking pliers
- Manual rollers
- Milling machines
- Motor graders
- Nut drivers
- Oil distributors
- Pavement marking machines
- Paving curbing machines
- Paving finishing machines
- Personal computers
- Pneumatic paving breakers
- Pneumatic rollers
- Power extendable screeds
- Profiling equipment
- Respirators
- Road heater-planers
- Robotic paving machines
- Rolling machines
- Rubber-tired asphalt pavers
- Rubber-track asphalt pavers
- Self-contained breathing apparatus
- Self-propelled material transfer devices
- Skid steer loaders
- Slip form machines
- Snowplows
- Static rollers
- Straight screwdrivers
- Straightedges
- String lines
- Surveying tapes
- Tamping machines
- Transit levels
- Two way radios
- Vibrating concrete screeds
- Vibratory rollers
- Wheel loaders
- Windrow pickup machines
Technology Skills required for Paving, Surfacing, and Tamping Equipment Operator
- Autodesk AutoCAD Civil 3D
- Database software
- Email software
- HCSS HeavyBid
- Microsoft Excel
- Microsoft Office software
- Microsoft Outlook
- Spreadsheet software
- Time report software
- Warehouse management system WMS
- Word processing software