The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued a final rule that clarifies certification requirements for crane operators. Under the final rule, employers are required to train, certify/license, and evaluate operators to safely perform crane activities. Operators can be certified based on either the crane's type and capacity, or type only, ensuring that more accredited testing organizations are eligible to meet OSHA's certification program requirements. Most requirements in the final rule will become effective on Dec. 9, 2018. The evaluation and documentation requirements will become effective on Feb. 7, 2019. 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. Employers who have evaluated operators prior to December 9, 2018, will not have to conduct those evaluations again, but will only have 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 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.
If you have questions about how these requirements might affect your company, please contact Joseph B. Carini, III or Katie E. Gorrie.
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