Advanced Snow Management Continues with Plowing Operations

'The Plowing Operations certificate can be useful to train team members who are new to plowing operations, and reinforce learning for those who have some years of experience and can benefit from advanced learning.'

By Phill Sexton

As snow & ice professionals, we all start somewhere. For me, it started as a young teen with a shovel and an entrepreneurial dream which evolved into many years of plowing lake effect snow in Upstate New York. I was fortunate with opportunities to expand my experience and knowledge to other parts of the country and learn from many of the best mentors the industry has to offer. 

Many of us share the same beginning with a first experience in a plow and then figuring it out as we gain experience over time. Today’s world with higher than ever expectations and liability exposure doesn’t allow for the same ground up, learn as you go, hands-on experience many of us in the profession benefitted from. Today’s faster-paced world demands more rapid learning, experience and knowledge than ever before. To meet this growing demand, SIMA has released the first ever self-guided online training for Plowing Operations. This is the second online training certificate to be released in a series of four included as part of the Advanced Snow Management (ASM) training program.

The Plowing Operations certificate can be useful to train team members who are new to plowing operations, and reinforce learning for those who have some years of experience and can benefit from additional advanced learning including the interrelated science, techniques and efficiencies. While the stakeholder advisory group (SAG) and I worked together for several months, we were humbled by how much learning we were acquiring or reinforcing while developing the curriculum. I am confident there is something to be learned in this certificate for even the most experienced professionals.

Some of what you can expect from the Plowing Operations certificate is focused training for safe and efficient plowing, blowing and removal of snow including:

• The effects of moisture and temperature on snow plowing strategy.  
• Preparation and maintenance of snow plow equipment.
• Safety practices for attaching, detaching, and adjusting various plows and blowers.
• Instruction on best practices for snow plowing techniques, including pictures and video.
• Cycle time and Capacity Demand.
• Proper on- and off-site snow hauling.
• Snow site engineering for plowing operations.
• What documentation to include for plowing operations.

The Plowing Operations training, like all of the other ASM courses, is available online through SIMA’s Resource 24/7 training center at www.sima.org/resources. All of the courses are self-paced and end with a quiz to verify knowledge learned. Once the quiz is successfully completed an official certificate is awarded and sent by SIMA. Any individual who earns all four certificates will be awarded SIMA’s Advanced Snow Manager (ASM) designation. 

Should you or anyone on your team have questions, please always feel comfortable to call the SIMA office at 414-375-1940 or email me directly phill@sima.org.

Have fun in snow!