The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration will allow crane-operator certification by equipment type alone, while keeping a separate employer check on the operator’s ability to handle the assigned machine and work. The final construction rule, published November 9, 2018, removes the requirement to certify by lifting capacity as well as type. Contractors can still accept type-and-capacity certificates. The change relaxes what the certificate must cover; it does not make a certificate sufficient proof that someone can safely perform a particular lift. [S1][S2]

A certificate from an accredited testing organization can follow an operator to another employer covered by that option. The employer’s evaluation has a different job: it must establish skills, knowledge and the ability to recognize and avoid risks involving the equipment’s safety devices, software, size and configuration, as well as the assigned hoisting work. Capacity therefore remains part of the equipment check even when it no longer appears on the certificate. After a successful evaluation, the employer can assign other equipment only if it can demonstrate that substantially different skills, knowledge or risk-recognition abilities are not needed. [S1]

The evaluator must have the knowledge, training and experience to assess operators and must be an employee or agent of the employer. Hiring an outside evaluator does not transfer the employer’s duty to meet the rule. The evaluation record must identify the operator, the evaluator’s name and signature, the date, and the equipment’s make, model and configuration. It must be available at the worksite while the operator remains employed. [S1]

Existing operators need not all repeat their assessments. For operators employed before December 10, 2018, the rule lets an employer rely on its own previous assessments of their existing knowledge and skills. OSHA’s explanation expressly rules out relying on another employer’s recommendations or evaluations for this transition. The contractor still needs documentation reflecting when it determined the operator’s abilities and the equipment on which competence was demonstrated. That can spare a contractor a repeat assessment, but only where it has its own basis for judging the operator’s abilities. [S1]

The final rule sets December 10, 2018, as its general effective date and February 7, 2019, for the evaluation and documentation provisions. Its December date differs from the December 9 date in the Labor Department’s November 7 announcement; the published regulation supplies the governing dates. The rule also says its information collections are subject to Office of Management and Budget review, with a separate notice to announce that review’s results. [S1][S2]

This is a construction-crane rule, not a universal license for lifting equipment. Section 1926.1427 excludes operators of derricks, sideboom cranes and equipment with a maximum manufacturer-rated lifting capacity of 2,000 pounds or less, while preserving training duties under other sections. There is also a jurisdictional limit to the certification relief: OSHA says approved State Plans must adopt an at-least-as-effective change for the evaluation requirements, but need not remove their capacity-based certification requirement. A contractor cannot assume that a type-only certificate will satisfy every state’s rules. [S1]

Source documents

  1. Cranes and Derricks in Construction: Operator Qualification — Final rule, 83 FR 56198https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2018-11-09/html/2018-24481.htm
  2. U.S. Department of Labor Issues Final Rule on Crane Operator Certification Requirementshttps://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/USDOL/bulletins/219f550