In June of last year, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued a notice of proposed rulemaking which notified employers of several impending changes to its rules governing crane operator certifications. After weighing feedback from industry stakeholders, OSHA published its final ruling a few months later in November.
Under the terms of its updated crane and derrick certification requirements, OSHA has reinstated a rule which requires employers to evaluate the judgement of their operators.
Employers must then document the results of their operator evaluations and submit them to OSHA for review. Initially, employers were required to submit these evaluations by February 7, 2019. Now, however, OSHA has extended that deadline until April 15 for employers who demonstrate “good faith efforts” to comply with the new documentation requirements.
During this 60-day extension period, OSHA will “evaluate good faith efforts taken by employers in their attempt to meet the new documentation requirements.” The agency has also offered compliance assistance for these employers in lieu of enforcement on the original deadline. According to Scott C. Ketcham, acting director of OSHA’s Directorate of Construction, the deadline extension was made in response to feedback from members of the construction industry which indicated that many employers will need additional time to document their crane operator evaluations.
The new operator evaluation rule may take a little longer to implement than anticipated, but it’s expected to improve safety on construction sites in the long run. To learn more, you can view the complete Crane and Derricks in Construction: Operator Certification Extension here.