Operating Engineers build roads, bridges, and dams, and assist in construction of large buildings and other structures. The work of an Operating Engineer is divided into two general classifications;

• OPERATING EQUIPMENT used in construction such as bulldozers, motorgraders, backhoes, pavers, and cranes
  
  AND
  
• REPAIRING THE EARTH-MOVING EQUIPMENT used in the building of roads, bridges, dams and large buildings.

The Ohio Operating Engineers Training Program is an INDUSTRY-SPONSORED AND FUNDED registered Apprenticeship Training Program. The sponsors are the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 18, the Ohio Contractors Association, and the Ohio Building Chapter of the Associated General Contractors. The Ohio State Apprenticeship Council and Training, as well as the United States Department of Labor, who provides assistance and regulation.

Apprentices will attend 160 hours of related instruction each year, on their own time, for which they are not paid. Classes are given in the following manner: weekly blocks of forty (40) hours in the fall, and forty (40) hours in the springs, as well as eighty (80) hours in the winter. The related instruction includes classroom instruction along with equipment operation, maintenance, and repair.

Apprentices are required to work a minimum of 4,000 hours during the four year period. This employment is considered an on-the-job training program, where the apprentices are employed by union contractors on construction projects and are paid wages and benefits.