Crane Lift

In our last post, HoistCam shared with you some of the details of new OSHA regulations which are expected to be put in place sometime between early 2016 and the end of 2017. According to a new survey posted by Engineering News-Record, there is some concern that crane operators may not be ready for the 2017 OSHA Certification Compliance.

As ENR explains,

“A large part of the U.S. construction industry may not be aware that crane operators will need to be certified by 2017, according to a report that a training company has published. This past June, Woodland, Wash.-based Industrial Training International (ITI) received responses from more than 1,300 people; 534 of those said they were crane operators, and 675 others said they work closely with crane operators. Of the total respondents, 515, or 38%, said they were not aware that construction crane operators will need to be certified or pass an accredited exam by 2017, despite a U.S. Occupational Safety & Health Administration regulation on the books since 2010.”

Zachary L. Parnell, president of Industrial Training International shares that they were very shocked at the results. Aside from the belief that these operators may not be ready by 2017, over two-thirds of those who responded to the survey felt that less than half of those crane operators working in the field today are in compliance with these regulations.

What this data tells us is that a good bit of those working in the construction industry are just not ready for OSHA to put its new safety rule into place. While OSHA is not restricted to wait that long, the latest that the rule could possibly be put into place is the end of 2017. It was originally expected to go into effect in 2014, but since its release in 2010, there have been many changes to this rule.

One reason for this delay was the wording. The article explains,

“The rule has taken several twists and turns since its initial 2010 release: OSHA originally planned to begin enforcing the certification rule last year, but it later delayed its implementation by three years to review regulatory language concerning the content it wants to see in the exams. OSHA officials now expect to issue changes to the testing criteria next year, Jim Maddux, director of OSHA’s construction directorate, told ENR in October.”

As always, HoistCam is highly in favor of anything that brings safety to the workplace. While cameras on cranes are not an OSHA requirement at this time, it is very possible that they one day will be. Adding HoistCam’s cameras to the job site provides an added safety measure, as well as increases productivity and security. These cameras are designed for quick mounting and easy release, and can literally be placed anywhere on the job site to give the crane operator, site manager, security personnel, and others line of sight to any part of the job.