OSHA Safety and Health Regulations for Construction (29 CFR Part 1926) 1926.1427: 1926.1427 Operator training, certification, and evaluation

Before anyone operates covered equipment, the employer must ensure the operator is trained, certified or licensed, and evaluated under this section. Exempt are operators of derricks (1926.1436), sideboom cranes (1926.1440) and equipment rated at 2,000 pounds or less (1926.1441), whose own training rules still apply. A U.S. military employee (DoD or Armed Forces, not contractors) with a current military operator qualification meets the section; it is valid only for the issuing employer and for the period the issuer sets. Training: operators-in-training get enough formal and practical instruction on the (j) knowledge and skills, are continuously monitored on site by an operator's trainer (the employer's employee or agent with the needed knowledge, training and experience, doing nothing that detracts from monitoring, in direct line of sight and communicating verbally or by hand signal, or in direct communication on tower cranes), may take breaks from monitoring of no more than 15 minutes and no more than one per hour after being told their tasks and limits, and are given only tasks within their ability. Without certification they may not work where equipment could come within 20 feet of a line up to 350 kV or 50 feet of a line over 350 kV, hoist personnel, do multiple-equipment lifts, work over shafts or cofferdams or in tank farms, or do multiple-lift rigging unless the trainer judges their skills sufficient. Retraining is required when performance or an evaluation shows the need. Certification or licensing: where a state or local government licenses operators through written and practical testing meeting the stated criteria, the operator must hold that licence, valid for the period set but no longer than 5 years. Otherwise the operator is certified by a crane operator testing organization holding accreditation from a nationally recognized accrediting body (testing by equipment type or type and capacity, with re-test and re-certification procedures, accreditation reviewed at least every 3 years; certification portable and valid 5 years; the most similar type may be used where no exam exists for a type) or through an audited employer program (tests developed by an accredited organization or approved by an independent certified auditor, administration audited, program audited within 3 months of starting and at least every 3 years, a significant deficiency halting qualification until corrected, re-audit within 180 days, auditor report to the OSHA Regional Office within 15 days, auditor keeping audit records 3 years; certificates not portable and valid 5 years). Certification or licensing is at no cost to employees. Evaluation: the employer must ensure, through an evaluation by its employee or agent with the knowledge to assess operators, that each operator shows the skills, knowledge and risk recognition to run the equipment safely, including its safety devices, operational aids, software, size and configuration (capacity, boom length, attachments, luffing jib, counterweight), and can perform assigned hoisting such as multi-crane lifts, blind lifts and hoisting of personnel. A certificate alone does not make an operator qualified. Operators employed before December 10, 2018 may be covered by earlier assessments. The employer documents operator name, evaluator name and signature, date, and make, model and configuration of equipment, keeps it available on the jobsite for as long as the operator works for it, and re-evaluates after retraining. After a successful evaluation the employer may let the operator run other equipment that the employer can show needs no substantially different skills, knowledge or risk recognition. Tests may be oral if the candidate passes a written literacy demonstration and can use written manufacturer procedures; tests may be in any language the candidate understands, the certificate notes that language, and the operator may only run equipment with manuals and load charts in it. Certification is based on written tests (controls, load chart calculations, power line contact, Appendix C technical knowledge for the equipment type (crane functions and limits, wire rope, rigging devices, limits of electrical protective measures, multi-crane load share, power flow systems, instruments, net capacity from the load chart, dynamic and side loading, backward stability, and site items such as ground weaknesses, mats and cribbing, site hazards, reviewing operation plans and room for outriggers and counterweights), ground suitability and site hazards, the subpart, and ability to find information in manuals) and practical tests (recognising shift inspection items, operating skills, load chart application, shut-down and securing). The section took effect December 10, 2018, and the evaluation and documentation duties in (a) and (f) on February 7, 2019.