The other night I was driving down a street and came to a large construction area where they were building a new bridge across the road.  As I looked up I saw 2 large generators suspended from the idle crane, swinging in the breeze.  This is a common practice to protect generators from being stolen.  NOT SAFE.

Recently there has been a number of crane incidents and deaths.  This has lead OSHA to propose new crane standards.  Edwin G. Foulke, Jr., assistant secretary of labor for OSHA, said “This draft rule will both protect construction employees and help prevent crane accidents by updating existing protections and requiring crane operators to be trained in the use of construction cranes.”  In March The Compliance Resource Center published an article about which includes an 8 minute crane safety video from OSHA.

One of the major issues identified in fatal crane accidents has been untrained operators. The proposed standard would establish four options for the qualification or certification of crane operators:

• Certification through an accredited third-party testing organization
• Qualification through an audited employer testing program
• Qualification issued by the U.S. military
• Qualification by a state or local licensing authority