09.11.2017

OSHA confirms crane operator certification postponement

OSHA has confirmed that the deadline for crane operators to be certified in the USA has been postponed until November 10, 2018, through the publication of a new Rule. OSHA is also extending employer’s duty to ensure that crane
operators are competent to operate a crane safely for the same one year period.

The publication came just one day before the certification requirement was due to come into effect, and follows publication of the proposed change in August in which OSHA announced its plans for the postponement. See OSHA delays crane operator certification again.

OSHA believes that an additional year will be sufficient to complete work on addressing the two issues that has concerned industry ever since the crane rule was published in 2010, namely, whether operators need to be certified by crane type and capacity, or just by type, and whether certification is sufficient by itself to deem an operator as qualified to operate a crane.

While OSHA has not disclosed the exact language it will propose to fix these two issues, it has again reaffirmed its intention, first noted in its submission to the Advisory Committee on Construction Safety and Health in 2015, "to propose removing the capacity component of certification." OSHA also notes that it would be unfair to employers to enforce the certification requirement "before completing the separate rule making to change that criteria."

On the second issue, OSHA states that it currently is "not prepared to make a determination whether certification alone is insufficient" in determining whether an operator is qualified.