 The purpose of grading is to shape or reshape the land to a smooth uniform profile in a way that's safe for everyone. You've got to move a mountain of material a bucket full at a time and make new mountains out of it. That means a lot of trips, a lot of wear and tear on your equipment, and a lot of boredom to overcome. So in addition to keeping your equipment working right you've got to keep your brain working right too. Before you fire up check everything out. Are safety shields in place? No fluid leaks? Maintenance checked it, but it's your life that's on the line out there. How about yourself? Have all your safety gear? You really need this stuff before you take off. Other stuff you should leave at home like your personal problems. Your full attention needs to be on what's happening out there on the grade. Visibility is a key to your survival. One rule of thumb is the bigger the equipment the less the operator can see. Always walk around your vehicle to make sure you're clear of any obstructions, but even if you've just checked someone could still get into your blind spot without you knowing it. Don't assume there's nothing behind you. Have a spotter on the ground. Most people think grading is simply hauling dirt, but you have to get to it first. In virgin territory that means clearing and rubbing, removing the vegetation that's grown in the way. You might think you're all alone out there and you can free wheel it, but just as soon as you think that somebody's sure to walk in. If you're that pedestrian you better make sure that operator sees you because he's busy. If you still think no one else is out there think again mother nature is always there and she can teach you a thing or two about respect. As you get into more developed areas getting to the dirt will be more complicated because you can't simply obliterate the structures in your way. Utilities have to be turned off then removed before you can demolish the structure. In fact, utilities are one of the most dangerous ongoing obstacles to grading. Even though utility companies usually relocate their lines poles and pipes before you come in, you'll still have to work around them above them below them even next to them. So it's not just simply being aware of utilities you have to know how to work safely around them. That takes training from a competent person like your safety officer. If you obliterate a utility you're going to be in big trouble on two counts. First, you'll have shut down important services to a lot of people, some whose life depends on them. Services like 911 phone lines, water, sewer, gas and electricity. And second, you just might get yourself killed in the process especially with gas and electricity. You don't want to mess with them. So know where you are and where the hazards around you are. With water, sewer and green lines, you might even have to put them in yourself. Now you're getting into underground work. There are special problems when you go below ground. The main one is gravity. Dirt will cave in on you without much help. A little wetness here, a little vibration there, doesn't take much to loosen it up. And you can be suffocated in an instant. Other things can come down on top of you too. You're like a target for anything that can fall. A trained competent person like your safety officer can help you deal with underground and other hazards like getting your fingers pinched inside this pipe. Another existing structure you might be dealing with is the old road. It's got to be broken up and removed before you can start to grade. Getting hit with a flying chunk of pavement is no fun. Neither is getting hit by the equipment. That's why they have warning alarms. It means the operator can't see all around but is coming anyway. If you can't see the operator, then figure the operator can't see you either. So stay clear. When you've got all obstacles removed or clearly marked, you can start hauling dirt. If you're anywhere around this equipment, you soon know its size. And if something goes wrong, it'll be a big wrong. It will happen before you know it and it will probably kill you. That's why you always have to be on the alert. If you're in another vehicle or on the ground, don't get too close to moving equipment. They're hauling a lot of dirt and hauling it fast. Give them room to maneuver. They don't give room, they take room. Lots of it. And speaking of room, as you remove dirt from a cut, that leaves less and less space for you to work in. Don't cut your support out from underneath you. You can do that, you know. As you fill in areas like a berm or embankment, you might start out in a wide area, but you'll soon end up in less space near the top. Going off these ridge tops can get you turned over in places you don't want to be caught dead in. The haul road between the cut and fill areas has its own problems too. Sometimes it's hard to tell just where it is. It's not marked. There are no signs or curbs or yellow lines to keep everybody separated. And there's a lot of traffic out there. It's like you're on a small lake on a hot 4th of July weekend. Anybody can go anywhere they please or dare. There are few rules of the road, such as loaded equipment has the right of way, but there's no one to police them. You're on your own. You just have to watch the pattern and stay in it. If you don't know the pattern, then don't go in until you figured it out. That's why visibility is so critical and why maintaining haul roads is so important. If the road dries out too much, you can't see through the dust. So you water it down. But if the grade's too wet, it's going to make it tough controlling your vehicle. It can get real greasy out there. Then when it dries, the ruts don't make it any easier either. So you disc or blade it dry again. It's a no wind situation. You're always going to be in one condition or another, even on the same day. So you've got to be ready for anything at any time. If the ground underneath you isn't stable, you're going to be in deep trouble. Once again, because you're operating big equipment, your visibility isn't going to be very good. Even in the best conditions, you can run over things that are just sitting there. On a large, flat, open area, you can see pretty well at a distance. But when you come to a hill, you can't see much on the other side until you're well on your way down. Like I said, you're pretty much on your own out there, dealing with people you work with every day. But the situation gets more hairy when you get close to public traffic. Dust can be a hazard for the public as well as for you. And when you have to cross that public road, watch out. You're coming into a one lane hourglass, one vehicle at a time. This is no time to see who gets there first. You might be head to head with your fellow operators, but there's even more dangerous cross traffic to worry about. These are the ones who can get you into real trouble, because even when you've got all your warning signs out, they'll still run through you more often than you think, because they're not used to you being there. You might be a lot bigger than they are, and you might have had the green light. But let me tell you, running over them is your worst nightmare. Instead of crossing public traffic, you just might have to get into it yourself. You're not on a haul road anymore. You've got to change your thinking. You've got non-construction people around you who don't know your size or stopping distance. It's more crowded, so you have a harder time seeing if anybody's around you. You're on a public road with legal speed limits, passing zones, and other regulations that every driver, including you, has to follow. Your size and speed is going to affect the traffic flow, not to mention the dust and rubble tracked onto the roadway. So give that other driver a break, because that's who you're doing all this for, to improve the driving environment for the traveling public, to make it safer for them. But in doing all this, you have to make sure it's safe for you too, bringing that right-of-way to grade, and preparing it for the next step in the construction process that's just over the hill.