Key Project Terms: Other Construction Equipment - Buildings

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DOB Glossary

Acronym Glossary

Find Building Data

Construction in My Neighborhood

Forms & Applications

Research Construction Professionals

Project Guidelines

Get Job Status Updates

Check an After-Hour Variance

File a Complaint

Resolve a Summons or Violation

Register for eFiling

Use DOB NOW


Key Project Terms: Other Construction Equipment (Construction Equipment)

The following is a list of useful terms to use when researching additional Mechanical Construction Equipment information on each of the topics discussed:

Auger/Drilling Equipment

This is used for vertically excavating into hard earth.

Backhoe

This is similar to an excavator but has a second arm and is more versatile. It can perform the same duties, such as moving material, infilling and grading.

Bulldozer

This is similar to a clam shell but the straight or angled blade of the shovel is more vertical and can be slightly raised by hydraulic action to adjust its level. It typically is used to push but not lift materials such as earth and is a track mounted tractor of significant weight allowing it to work easier with soil. It is used for grading materials over a relatively small area, cutting small trees, removing surface vegetation or hard surfaces, etc.

Clam Shell Loader, also known as Pay Loader

This is used to handle or load soft/saturated soil on site. It is most useful on a very big site where large amounts of soil materials are being removed.

Compound Crusher

A machine that uses a metal surface to break or compress construction materials into small fractional chunks or denser masses, commonly classified by the degree to which they fragment the starting material, with primary and secondary crushers handling coarse materials, and tertiary and quaternary crushers reducing materials to finer gradations. A crusher bucket is commonly attached to an excavator.

Concrete Saw

This piece of equipment is comprised of a saw blade for cutting concrete on grade. These vary in size from a hand held saw, stand behind models to large vehicles.

Crusher

A machine designed to reduce large rocks into smaller rocks, gravel, or rock dust. Crushers may be used to reduce the size, or change the form, of waste materials so they can be more easily disposed of or recycled, or to reduce the size of a solid mix of raw materials so that pieces of different composition can be differentiated.

Excavator

This machine is fixed with a bucket, used for loosening, excavating vertical or near-vertical soil above the machine base level. It is typically hydraulically operated and mounted on wheels or tracks. While not suitable for horizontal or below ground excavation, excavators are often used on demolition projects and have attachments such as a grapple for grabbing large items, or a shear used to cut structural members.

Forklift

A forklift is a powered industrial vehicle used to lift and move materials short distances.

Grader

A construction machine with a long blade used to create a flat surface during the grading process. This can be a self-contained unit or towed on the back of a tractor. A grader does not excavate but levels and grades fine loose deposit materials using a centrally mounted blade that is narrower and flatter than a bulldozer’s, evening out bumps and hollows. The blade can be lowered or lightly tilted to adjust the graded surface.

Jack (Strand Jack)

A strand jack is used to lift very heavy loads (e.g. thousands of tons or more with multiple jacks) for construction and engineering purposes. They are used on major buildings and other structures where the use of conventional cranes is either impractical or too expensive.

Grappler

A piece of mechanical equipment used to grab or hook onto large work site materials to move them.

Handheld Device

Equipment, mechanical or non-mechanical, utilized during construction that is held, lifted, moved, and operated by a single person and includes any item accessory to such equipment, such as a compressor. A handheld device does not include remote controlled equipment.

Lift

A machine used to convey workers and equipment to an elevated work surface, such as a boom lift, scissors lift, articulating boom lift, telescopic lift, etc.

Machinery

All exposed, electrically charged, moving or otherwise dangerous parts of machines and construction or demolition equipment shall be located, guarded, shielded, or barricaded so as to prevent contact by the public.

Material Handling Equipment

A power or manually operated platform, bucket, car or cage that moves horizontally and is mainly used for transporting material during construction, alteration, repair or demolition of a building or structure.

Non-road Vehicle

A vehicle that is powered by a non-road engine, fifty horsepower and greater, and that is not a motor vehicle, which shall include, but not be limited to, excavators, backhoes, cranes, compressors, generators, bulldozers and similar equipment.

Notification of Commencement

A notice must be sent to the Department at least 48 hours before starting demolition; another minimum 10-day notification to adjoining property.

Pile Driver

A mechanical device used to drive piles (poles) into soil to provide foundation support for buildings or other structures.

Safety Zones

A safety zone (fencing, barriers, etc.) shall be provided around all demolition areas to prevent persons other than workers from entering such zone.

Site Safety Plans/Projects

A site safety plan is required for all major buildings, including new buildings, alterations and demolition projects that are 10 stories or greater, or façade work on buildings that are 15 stories or greater, as detailed in BC 3310. The requirements for a site safety plan includes all requirements needed to protect the public areas and adjoining properties by providing a detailed list of construction logistics, including the locations of all forms of site protection equipment, such as fences, sidewalk sheds, locations of adjoining buildings, safety netting, etc. as outlined in AC 28-110.1.

Skid Steer Loader

A small, rigid-framed, four wheel engine-powered machine with lift arms used to attach a wide variety of laborsaving tools or attachments. Skid steer loaders are sometimes equipped with tracks in lieu of the wheels. Such a vehicle is known as a multi terrain loader. Like other front loaders, it can push material from one location to another, carry material in its bucket or load material into a truck or trailer.

Tamper

A tamping machine or ballast tamper is a machine used to pack or tamp the grade. It is also available as a plain tamper with no lifting or lining function.

Trench Digger

This can be a large saw attachment to an excavator, or a separate standalone piece of equipment. It is used to dig trenches, especially for laying pipes or cables, or digging out for footings. They may range in size from a walk-behind model, to an attachment for an excavator or a tractor.

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