After receiving multiple questions about the proposed delay of OSHA’s crane operator certification to November 2018, Jay Sturm, founder of crane training company Cranes101, provides his insight on the extension.
In June, ACCSH, an advisory group to OSHA, voted to recommend that OSHA extend the requirements for crane operator certification to 2018. The vote was unanimous. OSHA will make the decision in July whether to maintain the current deadline of November 10, 2017, or extend it to 2018. As of this today, no announcement has been made.
At Cranes101, we believe that your plans to get certified today should not be influenced by this decision one way or another. The number of businesses in your industry that utilize cranes who are requiring that crane operators are certified is growing every day. This factor is having a negative effect on a number of lawsuits that I am consulting and, and the liability for not having a certified operator is devastating to some companies. Attorneys are considering the certificate process as best practices for the industry, and they are suing the appropriate parties on that premise.
