Educated Excavator Operations
How to Justify an Investment in Excavator Operator Training
By Chuck Frey
 During a prolonged business downturn, it’s tempting for utility contractors to cut investments in operator training. Because it doesn’t appear to provide a tangible return on investment, training is often viewed as an expense, not an investment. Other excuses for not providing ongoing training for operators include lack of time, lack of money and lack of employee interest.
Considering the environments in which utility contractors work — including digging around buried gas lines and fiber-optic cables — how can you afford not to provide adequate training for your hydraulic excavator operators? All it takes is one serious accident to put your business on the ropes. The memory of what happened to a coworker will haunt every member of your work team for weeks, months or years to come. Increased insurance costs will make it much harder to bid competitively, and OSHA will be scrutinizing your every move. A wealth of research shows that operator training is actually one of the best investments a contractor can make.
Improved ROI
A study conducted by Clemson University showed that training results in an average return on investment of 2 to 1. Contractors that made a serious commitment to training experienced ROIs as high as 3.23 to 1. Why? Because training reduces the incidence of accidents, which, in turn, reduces the contractor’s insurance costs. That enables the firm to bid more aggressively and win more bids. If operators fully understand the capabilities of the excavator they’re running, they can be more productive. Proper equipment use also leads to reduced operating and repair costs, which in turn helps to enhance your firm’s bottom line.
Contractors that provide high-quality safety training to their employees experience an incident rate that is 36 percent below the national average. Lower worker compensation rates can also save you thousands of dollars per year. If you don’t believe that training is an excellent investment, perhaps that’s because you haven’t put adequate measurements in place to determine its level of effectiveness. As in any other part of your operations, you need to set specific objectives and then measure your progress against them. You can’t improve it if you don’t measure it.
Improved Productivity
The Clemson study also showed that training increases productivity by an average of 18 percent. It’s no wonder why. Today’s hydraulic excavators are sophisticated machines, and structured training can help your operators get the most out of these versatile workhorses, so they can achieve maximum productivity. Many operators have never had formal equipment training; some have carried the same bad habits from one job to another.
According to studies done by unions and independent operator training schools, 87 percent of the construction equipment operators in the United States have never had any formal operator training. One State of California study revealed that 95 percent of equipment operation accidents happened to “experienced” operators. Causes included bad work habits, complacency, overconfidence, inattention and failure to re-train as technology changed. The real tragedy is that every one of these causes is correctable through training. Your excavator operators are frequently working around buried utilities. You can’t afford to leave anything to chance. Remember to include remedial training for experienced operators in your training plan. Even “old dogs” need to learn new tricks.
Improved Retention
 In addition, the Clemson study revealed that training enabled construction contractors to cut employee turnover by 18 percent. Employees who feel you care about them are more inclined to stay with your firm. You may not be thinking about operator retention right now. But when work picks up in the near future, your best operators may be tempted to jump to a competing firm for a higher hourly wage — and the promise of a more professional work environment where training is taken more seriously. With worker shortages looming, you can’t afford to lose your best operators. So make sure they know you care by providing high-quality training — not just having them watch the same old training video year after year.
Who Should Conduct the Training?
For best results, we recommend using an experienced trainer to conduct operator training. Jobsite or production foremen are not trained to develop and deliver training programs. If your firm is small enough that one person must handle multiple roles, including training, then you ought to consider investing in instructor kits. They can help you to deliver professional-quality training sessions, without having to create the curriculum and course content from scratch. They typically include:
Structured course materials that teach the core operation and safety concepts for the equipment types in your fleet, Handouts and checklists that operators can use as on-the-job reminders of what they have learned, Tests to verify that learning has taken place, and Forms to help you maintain accurate training records.
High-performance utility contracting firms realize they must manage risk. With hydraulic excavators frequently working around buried utilities — as well as laborers on the ground — they recognize the need to provide a working environment that is both safe and productive, and the critical role that training plays in making that possible. In other words, they treat training as an investment, not an expense.
OSHA, MSHA, DOT and insurance companies have published numerous statistics which prove that consistent, verifiable, high-quality safety training reduces accidents and lowers operating costs. Good contractors recognize this fact and make a commitment to do training on a regular schedule. Those are the contractors that are so tough to beat on some of these bids. It’s not magic. It’s just good business. And it’s available to any contracting firm, regardless of size, at an affordable price.
What is not affordable is the price of going out of business because your operating costs were driven up by avoidable accidents and inefficient equipment operators.
Chuck Frey is the Marketing Manager for VISTA Training Inc.
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