About This Career

Diagnoses, adjusts, repairs, or overhauls mobile mechanical, hydraulic, and pneumatic equipment, such as cranes, bulldozers, graders, and conveyors, used in construction, logging, and mining.

This career is part of the Energy cluster.

A person in this career:

• Repairs and replaces damaged or worn parts.
• Tests mechanical products and equipment after repair or assembly to ensure proper performance and compliance with manufacturers' specifications.
• Operates and inspects machines or heavy equipment to diagnose defects.
• Reads and understands operating manuals, blueprints, and technical drawings.
• Dismantles and reassembles heavy equipment using hoists and hand tools.
• Overhauls and tests machines or equipment to ensure operating efficiency.
• Adjusts, maintains, and repairs or replaces subassemblies, such as transmissions and crawler heads, using hand tools, jacks, and cranes.
• Repairs, rewires, and troubleshoots electrical systems.
• Diagnoses faults or malfunctions to determine required repairs, using engine diagnostic equipment such as computerized test equipment and calibration devices.
• Examines parts for damage or excessive wear, using micrometers and gauges.

Working Conditions and Physical Demands

People who do this job report that:

• You would often handle loads up to 20 lbs., sometimes up to 50 lbs. You might do a lot of lifting, carrying, pushing or pulling.
• Work in this occupation involves bending or twisting your body more than one-third of the time
• Work in this occupation involves use of protective items such as safety shoes, glasses, gloves, hearing protection, a hard hat, or personal flotation devices
• Exposure to pollutants, gases, dust, fumes, odors, poor ventilation, etc.
• Requires getting into awkward positions
• Lighting is either extremely bright or inadequate
• Conditions are very hot (above 90 F) or very cold (under 32 F)
• Work in this occupation involves using your hands to hold, control, and feel objects more than one-third of the time
• Exposed to hazardous equipment such as saws, machinery, or vehicular traffic more than once a month
• Sound and noise levels are loud and distracting
• Work in this occupation requires being outside most of the time
• Work in this occupation involves making repetitive motions more than one-third of the time
• Work in this occupation involves standing more than one-third of the time

Working in this career involves (physical activities):

• Picking out a particular sound in the presence of other sounds
• Identifying color and seeing differences in color, including shades and brightness
• Bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching
• Seeing clearly at a distance
• Detecting sounds and hearing the differences between sounds of different pitch and loudness
• Seeing clearly up close
• Speaking clearly enough to be able to be understood by others
• Identifying and understanding the speech of another person
• Lifting, pushing, pulling, or carrying objects
• Using abdominal and lower back muscles repeatedly or over time without tiring

Work Hours and Travel

• Regular working hours and limited travel