Operator Creature Comforts Are Largely A Matter of Preference
When Charles “Dub” Norris went to work as a heavy equipment operator in the early 1960s, he sat for hours each day muscling hoist levers and clutches in the open air through rain, snow, heat and dust. “You would blow your nose after 12 hours of work and get mud balls out,” says the 61-year-old risk manager for Memphis, Tenn.-based Barnhart Crane and Rigging Co. Today, Norris says, operating machinery is more “like sitting at home watching TV.”
Equipment pilots are some of the most comfortable—and entertained—people on a jobsite. Inside the confines of equipment cabs, encased in a wall of glass, are cup holders, climate controls, compact-disc players, suspension seats, joysticks and color computer screens.