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OSHA Finalizes Crane Operator Rule
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health administration published a final rule last week that clarifies the certification requirements for crane operators, about eight years after the initial requirement was made.
The Rule
“Under the final rule, employers are required to train operators as needed to perform assigned crane activities, evaluate them and document successful completion of the evaluations,” the notice says.
“Employers who have evaluated operators prior to Dec. 9, 2018, will not have to conduct those evaluations again, but will only have to document when those evaluations were completed.”
The rule still requires crane operators to be certified or licensed and receive ongoing training as necessary with new equipment.
What’s new, though, is that the clarification states:
“Operators can be certified based on the crane’s type and capacity, or type only, which ensures that more accredited testing organizations are eligible to meet OSHA’s certification program requirements. The final rule revises a 2010 requirement that crane operator certification must specify the rated lifting capacity of cranes for which the operator is certified. Compliant certifications that were already issued by type and capacity are still acceptable under this final rule.”
The 2010 requirement was in reference to the Cranes and Derricks Construction standard. The final rule overrides 29 C.F.R. 1926 Subpart CC, which never went into effect, that mandated the certification include the lifting capacity.
The final rule, with the exception of the evaluation and documentation requirements, will become effective on Dec. 9. The evaluation and documentation requirements will become effective on Feb. 7, 2019.
