The Cranes and Derricks in Construction: Operator Qualifications final rule published on November 8, 2018, requires employers to document their evaluation of their crane operators went into effect on February 7, 2019.
While OSHA will be fully enforcing the requirement that employers must evaluate their operators before allowing them to operate cranes independently, during the first 60 days of enforcement (until April 15, 2019), OSHA will evaluate good faith efforts taken by employers in their attempt to meet the new documentation requirements for operators of cranes used in construction.
During this period, OSHA intends to offer compliance assistance, in lieu of enforcement, for those employers who have evaluated operators in accord with the final rule and are making good faith efforts to comply with the new documentation requirement. If, upon inspection, it is determined that an employer has failed to make sufficient efforts to comply, OSHA should cite for that deficiency.
