The National Commission for the Certification of Crane Operators formally launched its new US overhead crane operator testing programme last month. It is the NCCCO’s third crane operator certification scheme, following certification for tower crane operators last year and a certification for mobile crane operators in 1999.
The certification only covers cranes over 5 US ton (4.5t) capacity and three powered motions.
The course follows about 18 months of development by a committee of overhead crane experts headed by John Alexander, president of operator training firm Cranetex and Fred Simmons, chief surveyor for crane builder and training provider Foley Material Handling. The development project was led by (and paid for) the CMAA, the Crane Manufacturers Association of America, part of the Material Handling Industry of America. Other sponsors included American Crane & Equipment Company, Capco Crane & Hoist, KCI Konecranes, Morris Material Handling, Virginia Crane (Foley Material Handling), ACE World Companies, Demag Cranes & Components and OMI Hoist & Crane, according to the NCCCO. The CMAA and other manufacturers contributed $30,000-50,000, according to Hal Vandiver, managing director of the CMAA.
‘We wanted to do this in a way that as manufacturers it wouldn’t be appropriate to do,’ Vandiver said. ‘We wanted an independent third party to help with the certification and to help with the testing. Our motivation, simply, is to have a certification programme that has credibility.’
The first candidates for certification will take the first half of the test, a 60-question multiple-choice written examination, sometime before March with practical examinations, the other part of the certification scheme, following.
The written exam covers pre-operation activities, work requirements, load handling, shutdown and secure, and technical knowledge. The practical examinations will require operators to perform four tasks using a standard course within a time limit. The tasks are making a true vertical lift, placing a load in a circle, negotiating a corridor with obstruction and right angle, and a trolley laydown operation. Users must also pass health and drugs tests.
Although costs were not set by press date, the NCCCO charges candidates $165 for its mobile crane written test and $60 for the practical test.
A certification lasts five years. After passing year four, operators must recertify by taking a written recertification exam. Those who can document more than 1,000 hours of crane-related experience need not retake the practical exam – but others do.
Although the organisation does not provide training, it does give detailed information about what the exam covers in test documentation. The organisation’s web site, www.nccco.org, lists training providers.
Exactly what effect it will have on the industry is unclear.
‘We’re not trying to put anybody out of work,’ says NCCCO executive director Graham Brent. ‘The philosophy is that there is a proper way to use cranes. Those who use them incorrectly are reducing productivity, increasing maintenance costs and posing a danger.’
The course is the first in the US to set some kind of minimum requirements for overhead crane operator training that are general enough to apply over the entire country. If accepted by the industry, it may well bolster training programmes, say experts.
‘I believe end users will adopt it solely to verify their training programmes,’ says Stephen Branstrom, site foreman of the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 324, which handles Michigan.
Mike James, vice president of Morris/P&H, argues that the certification programme is likely to change the way overhead cranes are used. ‘Rules are changing and have changed in many areas requiring training and certification for other types of equipment such as forklifts, manlifts and mobile cranes. Just as those requirements have changed who and how those pieces are used, the NCCCO training / certification is destined to change industrial overhead crane and hoist use and safety.’
At present, only the state of Michigan requires overhead crane operators to be certified, under its crane standard, Part 18 of its general industry standards.
The process was started in April 2002, according to Jimmy Hindman, safety supervisor at Michigan Occupational Health and Safety Administration. It consists of four elements: operator qualifications – good eyesight, for example, operator training, operator testing and issuing the permit. Operator training consists of the basic theory of the crane, for example carrying capacity, daily checks, signals. Operators also are tested on the crane they are going to use, performing a normal task. Every crane operator – no matter how infrequently they will use a crane – must have a permit. Permits are issued by employers, and the MIOSHA programme sends out certifiers to check companies are compliant. Crane operators that have not been trained or tested could face fines up to $7,000, according to John Brennan, a MIOSHA division director for compliance. Companies that wilfully disregard the law could be fined ten times that.
Michigan OSHA’s standards department does not have any plans to adopt the NCCCO scheme, according to John Peck, MIOSHA director of management and technical services division.
Stephen Branstrom, who is familiar with both programmes, argues that Michigan should adopt the NCCCO’s scheme. His vote though is with the NCCCO system: ‘It challenges your ability to react and function and still maintain a productive level whatever doing.
‘Whether the operator is running a 5 ton hoist lifting parts on a table or whether he is moving steel coils, the three hoist movements are still same, as is the general knowledge of can and cants.’
