Getting started
On delivery day you have a machine in front of you and often a thin manual. Here is the order of the steps.
- Mini excavator under 1 t
Taking delivery of a sub-1 tonne mini excavator
The only mini excavator you will haul yourself: delivery, the towing-licence trap, and why its light weight misleads.
- Mini excavator 1–3 t
Taking delivery of a 1 to 3 tonne mini excavator
What to check on delivery, how to get it off the truck, what to do before the first start, and the break-in period.
- Mini excavator 3–6 t
Taking delivery of a 3 to 6 tonne mini excavator
The size where transport becomes a job and a cab changes your habits: delivery, unloading, first start and break-in.
- Excavator over 6 t
Taking delivery of an excavator over 6 tonnes
Past six tonnes, transport and training change category: delivery, unloading, first start and break-in.
- Compact track loader
Taking delivery of and starting a compact track loader
The machine you get hurt around, not in: the lift-arm brace, the restraint bar, rated capacity, and what tips it over.
- Wheel loader
Taking delivery of and starting a wheel loader
The hazard specific to articulated machines: the pinch point that shears, the lift-arm brace, and carrying the bucket low.
- Backhoe loader
Taking delivery of and starting a backhoe loader
Two machines in one, two operating stations: the stabilisers, the loader bucket bearing down, and the transport position.
- Telehandler
Taking delivery of and starting a telehandler
The only machine whose capacity changes with every metre of boom: the load chart, a level frame, and what tips it.
- Aerial work platform
Taking delivery of a mobile elevating work platform
A MEWP is not an earthmoving machine: what you check before every shift, and what kills.
- Compactor
Taking delivery of and starting a compactor
Plate or rammer: the vibration that weakens the ground, crushing, noise, and the slope rule.
- Compact tractor
Taking delivery of and starting a compact tractor
Roll bar, seat belt and PTO: the three things that kill on a tractor, and the rule nobody expects.
- Generator
Taking delivery of and starting a generator
The only machine here that kills without moving: carbon monoxide, backfeed, earthing and refuelling.