On November 9th, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) published a Notice of Propose Rulemaking to extend the timeframe in which employers have to make sure that their crane operators are competent. The announcement, which is effective immediately, comes just one day before the previous standard was set to go into effect. It states that employers now have until November 10, 2018, to enforcement crane operator certification amongst their employees.
OSHA states that the deadline adjustment was made to allow the organization a sufficient amount of time to complete the necessary work on addressing the two main issues that are of industry concern since the original crane rule was published back in 2010. The first being whether crane operators should be required to be certified by type and capacity, or just by type; second, whether the certification is sufficient enough to grant an operator qualified to operate a crane.
A press release from The National Commission for the Certification of Crane Operators (NCCCO) stated that they “supported the additional delay “reluctantly” since the changes to the rule were critically important to the effectiveness of the certification requirement” said Graham Brent, CEO of the NCCCO. The press release from the NCCO went on to say that, “it was important OSHA acted with urgency. Since the positive impact of professionally developed, third-party, accredited crane operator certification on the incidence of deaths and injuries caused by crane accidents has been amply demonstrated during the more than 20 years that NCCCO has been providing it every delay means that this nation’s workers continue to be exposed to risks that would otherwise have been mitigated.”
According to the notice released by OSHA, they do not feel as this one-year extension will pose any threats to crane operators or their employers. Instead, it will provide them with the time necessary to crane with the crane operator certification rule which was originally published in 2010.
Until November 10, 2018, employers are required under the standard to ensure that all crane operators are thoroughly trained and competent to operate the crane safely in all setting.
If your organization is in need of crane operator training, contact us today!
