Employers Respond to Crane Operator Evaluation Requirements

(July 22, 2020) - Most employers have a fairly sound understanding of their duties and responsibilities to evaluate their crane operators, a new report published last week by the NCCCO Foundation suggests. But there are some aspects of the OSHA crane operator qualification rule that give rise to a degree of confusion and misunderstanding. The Report, Crane Operator Evaluation: How are employers responding to OSHA’s new requirement? is the result of a study undertaken by the NCCCO Foundation. It sought to assess the degree of understanding and compliance by employers of crane operators with OSHA’s revised crane operator qualification rule published in November 2018 and, in particular, with what has become known as the “third step” of that qualification process, namely, the evaluation of crane operators. Employers were polled as to their level of understanding and/or compliance with each of the key elements of the new evaluation requirement. They were also asked several open-ended questions to gauge any general concerns or challenges. In addition to the results of the survey, the 20-page Report includes a three-page FAQ section on OSHA’s crane operator evaluation requirements, as well as links to additional resources, supplementary findings, and the survey itself. SC&RA members who have not yet done so are invited to complete the survey here.