We train operators where the iron already sits. Instead of pulling your people off the schedule and sending them to a training yard across the state, 3P Safety Heavy Equipment Training sends a working instructor to your jobsite, pit, or equipment yard — and your operators get trained, evaluated, and documented on the machines they actually run. More than 1,000 companies have put their people through the 3P Safety family of training programs.
Every session is instructor-led and in person, built around the employer's duty under OSHA 1926.602 and the general-duty requirement to put only trained, authorized operators in the seat. There's no government-issued license for an excavator or a dozer — what protects you is a documented, employer-based practical evaluation with a qualified trainer's name signed to it. That's what we deliver, and we're founder-led by a working operator, crane inspector, and lift director who's been in the field since 2005. Need forklift or aerial-lift certification? That lives with our sister outfit, 3P Safety Training — and crane or rigging work belongs to 3P Safety Crane & Rigging Training.
What We Deliver — Nine Machines, Three Clusters
One provider, nine machine classes, one standard of documentation. Everything below is delivered on-site at your location, sized to your crew, and backed by the written tests and scored practical evaluations an OSHA compliance officer — or a general contractor's prequal package — actually asks for.
Earthmoving Operators — Trained on Your Dirt, Not a Video
Excavation and grading work is where struck-by and caught-between incidents live, and it's where OSHA looks hardest at whether the person in the cab was actually qualified to be there. An online certificate doesn't answer that question. A documented practical evaluation on your machine, your ground, and your attachments does.
Our instructors run the full cycle on-site: classroom instruction on the standard and the machine, a written test, hands-on coaching in the cut or on the pad, and an individually scored evaluation for every operator — new hires, seasonal operators, and the twenty-year hand whose file has nothing in it.
Grading, Hauling & Material Handling — the Rest of the Fleet
The machines that finish the grade, move the spoil, and place the load carry their own hazard profiles: haul-road design and edge protection for articulated trucks, rollover exposure on compactors, and load-chart discipline on telehandlers. Each course is machine-specific — no generic "heavy equipment awareness" hour that qualifies nobody for nothing.
Why 3P Safety — Who's Actually Teaching Your Crew
Most training companies won't tell you who walks through your gate. We lead with it. 3P Safety was founded by Patrick Salazar — an OSHA 500 authorized construction outreach trainer who is also a working NCCCO-certified mobile crane operator (all three designations), tower crane operator, certified crane inspector, and lift director, in the field since 2005. A career spent qualifying operators on the most regulated equipment in construction — cranes — sets the documentation standard we bring to every excavator, loader, and dozer evaluation.
That experience sets the bar for every instructor who teaches under the 3P Safety name:
- Working operators as instructors — people who run iron for a living, not presenters with a slide deck
- NCCCO-certified founder — mobile (LBC/TLL/TSS) and tower operator, inspector, lift director
- OSHA 500 authorized trainer — construction outreach authorization behind the curriculum
- In the field since 2005 — instructors who still work the trade they teach
- Federal-contract experience — training delivered to the standard government sites enforce
- Audit-ready documentation — sign-in sheets, written tests, scored evaluations, and wallet cards, filed and delivered
Anywhere Your Iron Works
We're headquartered in Goldsboro, North Carolina, but the training happens wherever your machines are — our instructors travel to jobsites, pits, and equipment yards in all 50 states. One call covers a dirt crew in Raleigh and a paving crew in Denver, on the same standard, with the same paperwork. There's no branch network and no franchise variation: just the course you booked, delivered at your site.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do you deliver equipment training at our jobsite or yard?
Yes — that's the whole model. Our instructors travel to your jobsite, pit, plant, or equipment yard anywhere in the U.S. and train your operators on your machines. We're headquartered in Goldsboro, NC, but there's no training yard you have to come to.
Is there a government license for heavy-equipment operators?
For the machines on this site — excavators, loaders, dozers, graders, haul trucks, compactors, telehandlers — no. OSHA requires the employer to ensure operators are trained and competent, and construction equipment falls under 1926.602 and related rules. What stands up in an audit is a documented, employer-based practical evaluation. That's exactly what we deliver, in writing, for every operator. (Cranes are the exception — they carry their own certification rules, and that work lives with our sister company, 3P Safety Crane & Rigging Training.)
Which machines do you train on?
Nine classes: excavator, skid steer / compact track loader, backhoe loader, wheel loader, bulldozer/dozer, motor grader, articulated off-road dump truck, compactor/roller, and telehandler. Forklift and aerial/scissor-lift training live with 3P Safety Training; crane, rigging, and signalperson work lives with 3P Safety Crane & Rigging Training.
Do you train on our machines or bring your own?
Yours. The point of an employer-based evaluation is that the operator proves competence on the machine, attachments, and ground conditions they'll actually work — a rental unit in a parking lot doesn't tell you that. Using your equipment also surfaces the inspection and maintenance items your operators should be catching on their pre-shift walkarounds.
How many operators can you handle in one visit?
Classroom sessions scale to your crew; seat time doesn't. We keep the practical portion small enough that every operator gets real reps and an individually scored evaluation — tell us your headcount and machine mix and we'll scope the number of days in the quote.
How does pricing work?
Every quote is built for the job: the machines, your crew size, and your location. Request a quote through the contact page or call (252) 229-5238 and we'll price it same-week — one number, no per-student surprises.