Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operators, Surface Mining

Overview

Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operators, Surface Mining has a national median salary of $57,430 per year, with +1% projected job growth from 2025–2035. The Bureau of Labor Statistics lists a high school diploma or equivalent as the typical education needed to enter this occupation.

Description

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

Work Values

• Support
• Independence
• Relationships

Work Styles

Responsibilities

Tasks

• Move levers, depress foot pedals, and turn dials to operate power machinery, such as power shovels, stripping shovels, scraper loaders, or backhoes.
• Set up or inspect equipment prior to operation.
• Become familiar with digging plans, machine capabilities and limitations, and efficient and safe digging procedures in a given application.
• 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.

Work Activities

• Operating Vehicles, Mechanized Devices, or Equipment
• Controlling Machines and Processes
• Inspecting Equipment, Structures, or Materials
• Handling and Moving Objects
• Getting Information
• Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates
• Monitoring Processes, Materials, or Surroundings
• Making Decisions and Solving Problems
• Performing General Physical Activities
• Identifying Objects, Actions, and Events

Detailed Work Activities

• Running, maneuvering, navigating, or driving vehicles or mechanized equipment, such as forklifts, passenger vehicles, aircraft, or watercraft.
• Using either control mechanisms or direct physical activity to operate machines or processes (not including computers or vehicles).
• Inspecting equipment, structures, or materials to identify the cause of errors or other problems or defects.
• Using hands and arms in handling, installing, positioning, and moving materials, and manipulating things.
• Observing, receiving, and otherwise obtaining information from all relevant sources.
• Providing information to supervisors, co-workers, and subordinates by telephone, in written form, e-mail, or in person.
• Monitoring and reviewing information from materials, events, or the environment, to detect or assess problems.
• Analyzing information and evaluating results to choose the best solution and solve problems.
• Performing general physical activities includes doing activities that require considerable use of your arms and legs and moving your whole body, such as climbing, lifting, balancing, walking, stooping, and handling materials.
• Identifying information by categorizing, estimating, recognizing differences or similarities, and detecting changes in circumstances or events.

T-A-S-K

Technology, Abilities, Skills & Knowledge

Education

Education Levels of Current Workers

The Bureau of Labor Statistics lists a high school diploma or equivalent as the typical education needed to enter this occupation. The chart below shows the highest level of education held by people already working in this field, ages 25 and older. It includes workers who earned more education than the job requires and workers who entered the field under earlier requirements, so the largest bar is not the entry requirement. For example, if someone finished an associate's degree and then started working in this field, they are counted under “Associate's degree” here, but the job itself typically asks for a high school diploma or equivalent.

Certificates

Certifications applicable to Excavating and Loading Machine and Dragline Operators, Surface Mining:

Video Resources