28
ACT
JANUARY 2015
crane safety video andmanual together
to complement and reinforce their safety
messaging.”
Industry expertsworking through
AEM’sCraneTechnical Committee
(CTC) provided content development
and review. Certified trainers from
the InternationalUnionofOperating
Engineers (IUOE) demonstrate best
practices in the video.
Back in September, theNational
Commission for theCertificationof
CraneOperators (NCCCO) established
anonlinedirectoryofCCO-certified
crane inspectors.
According to apress release on the
NCCCOwebsite, thedirectory is
organized alphabeticallyby state and lists
contact details for each inspector along
withhis or her areas of operation and the
categories of certificationheld (mobile,
tower andoverhead crane).
“Thedirectory is designed to serve
as an easy reference tool for general
contractors and crane owners seeking a
qualified individual to conduct a third-
party inspectionof their cranes,” said Joel
Oliva, director of operations andprogram
development,NCCCO.
Inpartnershipwith thePileDriving
ContractorsAssociation (PDCA),
tohurdlewouldonly slow themdown
more, according toStevenTodd, vice
president, SC&RA.
As a result, theFMCSA allotted a
30-daypublic filingperiod for comment
as of thedate they [FMCSA] published
the request,November 22, 2014. As of
Christmas Eve, that periodof timewas
up, and the industrywas left in suspense
until some time in January, or later.
Relief for restarts
OnDecember 13, 2014, Congress passed
theFY2015OmnibusAppropriations bill
providing funding for the vastmajority
of the federal government, including the
Department of Transportation, for the
current fiscal year.Officially titled the
Consolidated andFurtherContinuing
AppropriationsAct, 2015, the bill is over
1,700pages long and, as you can imagine,
has ahost of detailed spending and
policy-relatedprovisions affectingmany
industries.
Themost important trucking-related
provision is language that provides relief
from the twonew restrictions of the
hours of service restart rule. Specifically,
the legislation suspends the requirement
that all qualifying restarts contain two
consecutive periods of time between1
a.m. and5 a.m., and that it canonlybe
usedonce every 168hours (or seven
days). Inotherwords, the restart rule
reverts back to the simple 34hour restart
rule in effect from2003 to June 2013.
K
e eping up with the times
The crane industry continues to getmore
digital. InDecember, theAssociation
of EquipmentManufacturers (AEM)
released a live-action crane safety video
alongside anupdated crane safety
manual.
“The live-action format of theDVD-
video, and themanual generously
illustratedwith the latestAEMpictorials,
offer a convenient learning/reference
program for the industry today,” the
Association said. “AEMdeveloped the
John Skelly
prov
ides a round-up of updates on the top
safety, training and certification issues in 2015.
Unresolved issues
T
he year ahead is sure tobe
a busyone after 2014 ended
withmultiple safety, training
and certification issues unresolved.On
September 26, 2014,OSHA extended
itsNovember 10, 2014deadline for
employers to ensure that crane operators
are certifiedby three years. Shortly
thereafter, a groupof 10 construction
industryorganizations formed the
Coalition forCraneOperator Safety
(CCOS). (You can find a list of all
theCCOSorganizations inourRisk
Management columnonpage 49.)
The coalition isn’t interested in it
actually taking three full years to resolve
thismatter. In the 42-section standard
put forthbyOSHA, onlyone, operator
certification, remains inquestion and
the rest have alreadybeen enacted. The
coalitionhas stated it plans to see their
concerns are addressed appropriately and
expeditiously.
Despite thedelay anduncertaintyof
crane operator certification as it relates to
theOSHA crane standard, TheNational
Commission for theCertificationof
CraneOperators andother training and
certification entitieswill continue tooffer
crane operator certification testing. Crane
operator certification is as important as it
everwas.
E
xe mption needed
OnOctober 17, 2014,NationsBuilders
Insurance Services, Inc. (NBIS) and
the SpecializedCarriers&Rigging
Association (SC&RA) filed an exemption
to the 30-minute rest break rulewithin
theFinal Rule onHours of Service of
Drivers issuedby theFederalMotor
Carrier SafetyAdministration (FMCSA).
The twoorganizations requested the
exemptionbe applied todrivers hauling
loads that exceededmaximum legal
weight anddimension that require a
permit from a government authority.
Permit regulations already limit thehours
inwhich thesedrivers and loads can
move. Adding another obstacle for them
INDUSTRY FOCUS
SAFETY& TRAINING
