How to become Dredge Operator in 2024

Dredge Operator Operate dredge to remove sand, gravel, or other materials in order to excavate and maintain navigable channels in waterways.

Dredge Operator is Also Know as

In different settings, Dredge Operator is titled as

  • Dredge Operator
  • Dredger

Education and Training of Dredge Operator

Dredge Operator is categorized in Job Zone Two: Some Preparation Needed

Experience Required for Dredge 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 Dredge Operator

These occupations usually require a high school diploma.

Degrees Related to Dredge Operator

Training Required for Dredge 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 Dredge Operator in different industries are

What Do Dredge Operator do?

  • Move levers to position dredges for excavation, to engage hydraulic pumps, to raise and lower suction booms, and to control rotation of cutterheads.
  • Start and stop engines to operate equipment.
  • Start power winches that draw in or let out cables to change positions of dredges, or pull in and let out cables manually.
  • Pump water to clear machinery pipelines.
  • Lower anchor poles to verify depths of excavations, using winches, or scan depth gauges to determine depths of excavations.
  • Direct or assist workers placing shore anchors and cables, laying additional pipes from dredges to shore, and pumping water from pontoons.

Qualities of Good Dredge Operator

  • Control Precision: The ability to quickly and repeatedly adjust the controls of a machine or a vehicle to exact positions.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Reaction Time: The ability to quickly respond (with the hand, finger, or foot) to a signal (sound, light, picture) when it appears.
  • 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.
  • Far Vision: The ability to see details at a distance.
  • Near Vision: The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
  • Selective Attention: The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
  • Hearing Sensitivity: The ability to detect or tell the differences between sounds that vary in pitch and loudness.
  • 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.
  • Speech Clarity: The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
  • 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).
  • Auditory Attention: The ability to focus on a single source of sound in the presence of other distracting sounds.
  • Speech Recognition: The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
  • Oral Comprehension: The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
  • Static Strength: The ability to exert maximum muscle force to lift, push, pull, or carry objects.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Oral Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
  • Visualization: The ability to imagine how something will look after it is moved around or when its parts are moved or rearranged.
  • 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.
  • Deductive Reasoning: The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
  • Spatial Orientation: The ability to know your location in relation to the environment or to know where other objects are in relation to you.
  • 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.
  • 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).
  • Glare Sensitivity: The ability to see objects in the presence of a glare or bright lighting.
  • Visual Color Discrimination: The ability to match or detect differences between colors, including shades of color and brightness.
  • Written Comprehension: The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
  • Written Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
  • 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).
  • Wrist-Finger Speed: The ability to make fast, simple, repeated movements of the fingers, hands, and wrists.
  • Stamina: The ability to exert yourself physically over long periods of time without getting winded or out of breath.
  • Speed of Limb Movement: The ability to quickly move the arms and legs.
  • Dynamic Strength: The ability to exert muscle force repeatedly or continuously over time. This involves muscular endurance and resistance to muscle fatigue.
  • Peripheral Vision: The ability to see objects or movement of objects to one's side when the eyes are looking ahead.
  • Extent Flexibility: The ability to bend, stretch, twist, or reach with your body, arms, and/or legs.
  • Speed of Closure: The ability to quickly make sense of, combine, and organize information into meaningful patterns.
  • Gross Body Equilibrium: The ability to keep or regain your body balance or stay upright when in an unstable position.
  • Gross Body Coordination: The ability to coordinate the movement of your arms, legs, and torso together when the whole body is in motion.
  • Mathematical Reasoning: The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem.
  • 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.
  • Number Facility: The ability to add, subtract, multiply, or divide quickly and correctly.
  • Memorization: The ability to remember information such as words, numbers, pictures, and procedures.
  • Sound Localization: The ability to tell the direction from which a sound originated.
  • Night Vision: The ability to see under low-light conditions.
  • Explosive Strength: The ability to use short bursts of muscle force to propel oneself (as in jumping or sprinting), or to throw an object.
  • Dynamic Flexibility: The ability to quickly and repeatedly bend, stretch, twist, or reach out with your body, arms, and/or legs.

Tools Used by Dredge Operator

  • Anchor winches
  • Chainsaws
  • Clamshell buckets
  • Crawler dozers
  • Cutting torches
  • Davit cranes
  • Density meters
  • Dragline cranes
  • Fathometer sonar equipment
  • Firefighting hoses
  • Front end loaders
  • Grease dispensing guns
  • Heavy duty dump trucks
  • Hydraulic suction dredges
  • Life jackets
  • Mechanical dredges
  • Mobile radios
  • Multipurpose fire extinguishers
  • Oxyacetylene welding equipment
  • Pickup trucks
  • Pneumatic impact wrenches
  • Power winches
  • Ratchet sets
  • Rescue boats
  • Rescue rings
  • Self-propelled dredges
  • Socket wrench sets
  • Soil particle size testers
  • Tractor-trailer trucks
  • Vacuum gauges
  • Velocity meters
  • Water quality samplers
  • Weed harvesters

Technology Skills required for Dredge Operator

  • Global positioning system GPS software
  • HYPACK DREDGEPACK
  • Programmable logic controller PLC software
  • Teledyne Odom Hydrographic ODOM eChart
  • Trimble HYDROpro
  • Web browser software