Starting them young in the machines

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Digging deep into construction machinery news

Mon 04 Nov 2013

Starting them young in the machines

For many of us from my generation and indeed previous generations, getting “stick time” in the seat from an early age was almost standard practice. It’s well proven that humans learn things much more quickly, if they start practising at an early age. Sadly these days due to health and safety restrictions, it’s virtually impossible to allow youngsters to gain any experience on site in the machines, and in my opinion, this is why we are heading for a major plant operator skills shortage in the future. During the course of my work, both out operating machines and reporting on sites for the blog and magazine, a vast majority of operators tell me this is how they got started in our industry. It was certainly the case for me, although I was actually eight years old before I was let loose in a machine unattended. The little chap in this video, seen at the controls of a Hanix H50B five tonne mini excavator in Norway, is apparently two and half years old, but as you can clearly see, he already has the basics under control. Of course for politically correct reasons on here, I can’t be seen to condone this practice, but as I see it in a controlled environment it’s a good way for young people to learn the noble art of machine operating.

Our friends at the various Diggerland venues around the country have proven that it can be done in a safe and controlled situation, and the concept continues to get bigger and bigger, showing that there is massive interest in JCB's and diggers amongst the youngsters, many of which might decide to take up a future career as a plant operator.

Sadly though, I’m sure many will be put off by the massive expenditure one has to lay out to be tested and to attain the necessary CPCS card that most sites expect to see these days, followed by further layouts to renew the said card every five years! As I see it this card scheme, and all those that are getting rich by charging massive amounts of money for training, are just adding to the problem of a looming drought of machine operators. Some form of action needs to be taken soon to prevent any further skills shortages. With the industry picking up again just where are we going to find the new blood that is so badly needed.

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Starting them young in the machines

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