The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recently published its final rule that clarifies certification requirements for crane operators and requires employers to ensure that crane operators can safely operate the equipment.
Under the final rule, employers are required to train operators as needed to perform assigned crane activities. They must also evaluate crane operator performance and document the evaluations.
Employers who have evaluated operators prior to Dec. 9, 2018, will not have to conduct those evaluations again, but they will be required to document when those evaluations were completed.
The rule also requires crane operators to be certified or licensed, and receive ongoing training as necessary to operate new equipment. 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 final rule, with the exception of the evaluation and documentation requirements, will become effective Dec. 9. The evaluation and documentation requirements will become effective Feb. 7, 2019.
Here is another take on crane safety from Procore:
