James Rasmussen

I drove dump truck in Mt. Vernon, Wa hauling dirt, rip rap, and quarry spalls locally for an emergency repair to the dike on the Skagit River. I was hired for the job on very short notice and parted with the company when the job was completed.

After being laid off in March of 2023 and I obtained a Class A CDL I was rehired performing the same duties for just over a month until a second round of layoffs as a result of a loss of landfill operations permitting by the Yakima Health Department.

I performed all tasks and ran all types of equipment involved in landfill operations. I started running haul trucks for the first six months and then once I demonstrated my competency and understanding of the job I started moving into loaders, compactors, excavators and water trucks as well. Around the one year point I became one of our primary D8 operators working mostly in the landfill but also any dirt projects that required it such as cutting in new roads, building pads, and grading the exterior of the landfills cells. I primarily ran dozers with some exceptions from September of 2022 until I was laid off in March of 2023 due to massive company layoffs after the company was purchased in February.

I started out with Safeguard as a labor doing hand demolition on jobs tearing out for example bathrooms or walls in commercial buildings or assisting on the equipment side by cleaning up around site and running a hose for dust control. On one job in particular there ended up being one less operator then was needed on a building demo and i was able to demonstrate my ability to run an excavator which I had been doing for years growing up around farming and from then on I mostly rand excavators and skidsteers. In the winter when things got a little slow I spent most of my time doing doing maintenance on all of our trucks, trailers, and equipment. I did oil and filter changes as well as replacing old hoses, wipers, and anything else that was damaged. I also did a lot fabrication projects such as rebuilding buckets, an end dump trailer, and repairing dump truck boxes.