Safety Issues Archives

On November 9, 2017,the Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued a rule delaying for one year, until November 10, 2018, the implementation of a Construction Crane Operator Certification requirement that was scheduled to go into effect on November 10, 2017.  The  crane operator certification requirement, based on an OSHA standard published in 2010, would require an independent third party certification of crane operators via testing and training.  Comments received by OSHA from the construction community questioned whether the independent testing certification standards and evaluation protocol proposed by the OSHA rule were superior to the testing, training, and crane operator certification currently being provided by crane employers. There were also comments made suggesting that the testing and certifications currently being used by crane employers would conflict with the proposed independent certification testing standards.  To study this issue further, OSHA has delayed the implementation of the independent testing standard for an additional year.  In the interim, OSHA has extended for one year its requirement that it is the crane employer’s duty to ensure that its crane operators are competent to operate a crane safely.  Andrew B. Cohn acohn@kaplaw.com 610.941.2549      

In what could be seen as a far reaching decision, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia recently held a firm line in enforcing a 6 month statute of limitations for on-site injury record keeping violations under 29 C.F.R. § 657. The decision – a significant one for those in the construction business – was a firm reminder to the Department of Labor about the principals of separation of powers and its limited power to enforce safety at the project.