Construction Laborer Job Description
Summary: Perform tasks involving physical labor at heavy construction projects. Ability to operate a variety of hand and power tools and small equipment. May clean and prepare sites, dig trenches, set braces to support the sides of excavations, erect scaffolding, clean up rubble and debris and remove waste materials. May assist other craft workers as directed.
Essential Duties and Responsibilities
- Operate jackhammers, drills, and various power tools
- Position, join, align, and seal structural components, such as concrete wall sections and pipes.
- Shovel cement and other materials into portable cement mixers; and mix, pour, and spread concrete
- Signal equipment operators to facilitate alignment, movement, and adjustment of machinery, equipment, and materials
- Smooth and finish freshly poured cement or concrete, using floats, trowels, screeds, or powered cement finishing tools
- Tend to pumps, compressors, and generators to provide power for tools, machinery, and equipment
- Lubricate, clean, and repair machinery, equipment, and tools
- Operate, read, and maintain air monitoring and other sampling devices in confined and/or hazardous environments
- Build and position forms for pouring concrete, and dismantle forms after use, using saws, hammers, nails, or bolts
- Clean and prepare construction sites to eliminate possible hazards, while following all waste handling guidelines
- Dig ditches or trenches, backfill excavations, and compact and level earth to grade specifications, using picks, shovels, pneumatic tampers, and rakes
- Erect and disassemble scaffolding, shoring, braces, traffic barricades, ramps, and other temporary structures
- General knowledge of testing storm manholes, sanitary lines, and water lines.
- Install sewer, water, and storm drain pipes, using pipe-laying machinery and laser guidance equipment
- Load, unload, and identify building materials, machinery, and tools, and distribute them to the appropriate locations, according to project plans and specifications
- Measure, mark, and record openings and distances to lay out areas where construction work will be performed
- Provide assistance to craft workers, such as pipe fitters and operators
- Read and interpret plans, instructions, and specifications to determine work activities
- Load and unload equipment from trucks
- Drive trucks carrying materials and equipment from warehouse to sites
- Operate forklifts and other equipment to transport materials and equipment from one place to another on a construction site
- Assists in excavation work by hand digging ditches or trenches, backfilling excavations, breaking out concrete or asphalt, compacting and leveling earth to grade specifications, and shoring and bracing underground excavation
- Assists the crafts by hauling materials to job sites and cleaning debris from work sites
- Signals equipment operators to facilitate alignment, movement, and adjustment of machinery, equipment, and materials
- Controlling traffic around work zones as directed
- Responsible for observing and complying with all safety and project rules, including wearing required personal safety equipment
- Performs other duties as required
Skills / Qualifications
- High school diploma or general education degree (GED); or one to three months related experience and/or training; or equivalent combination of education and experience
- Ability to read and interpret maps, sketches, drawings, specifications, and technical manuals
- Understands and follows oral and written instructions
- Works independently in the absence of supervision
- The ability to work 55 – 60 hours a week including Saturdays
Physical Demands: While performing the duties of this job with or without reasonable accommodation, the employee must have the ability to stand; walk; sit; stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl for long periods. Must be able to handle and manipulate objects on a repetitive basis. Ability to talk and see well to distinguish between back up alarms, voices, and other normal sounds consistent with construction job sites. The employee is occasionally required to taste or smell. The employee must frequently lift and/or move up to 25 pounds and occasionally lift and/or move up to 100 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception and ability to adjust focus.
Work Environment: While performing the duties of this job with or without reasonable accommodations, the employee is regularly exposed to moving mechanical parts, fumes, airborne particles, outside weather conditions, and vibrations. The employee is frequently exposed to wet and/or humid conditions as well as heat. The employee is occasionally exposed to high, precarious places. The noise level in the work environment is usually loud.
