The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has published its much-anticipated Compliance Directive for the Cranes and Derricks in Construction Standard (29 CFR Part 1926 Subpart CC) (dated February 11, 2022.) The new compliance directive CPL 02-01-063 for cranes and replaces the 2014 compliance directive CPL 02-01-057 and addresses 2018’s changes in the crane rule that OSHA made.
Moving forward, people should expect intensified enforcement of the new crane rule, including crane operator, signalperson, rigger, operator evaluator, assembly/disassembly director and lift director qualifications.
One part of the compliance directive is the major revision on crane operator training, certification and evaluation.
According to the National Commission for the Certification of Crane Operators (NCCCO), the 2018 crane rule from OSHA provided a framework for establishing crane operator competency for the construction industry.
In the compliance directive, OSHA states that there is no particular order in which an employer must comply with the crane training, certification and evaluation elements, and further reiterates that should an operator not meet all three criteria, they are considered to be a crane “operator-in-training.”
Main focus points of the new directive include:
- When to initiate an inspection into crane operator’s training, certification, and evaluation
- How to approach an inspection involving multi-purpose equipment and multi-employer worksites
- How to determine whether the operator has received training that meets the requirements of the standard
- What steps to take when inspecting the certification/license of an operator
- How to address certification concerns such as fraudulent certifications or testing organizations not meeting requirements
- When an employer would need to conduct additional evaluations for an operator
The NCCCO recently provided a deep dive into the crane operator training directive – including what a crane operator-in-training consists of, changes to crane operator certification/licensing, crane operator evaluations and more. You can read their guidance here.
