BC Association for Crane Safety launches certification program

WorkSafeBC has mandated that all operators of boom, tower and mobile cranes pass both a written and a hands-on exam.

Crane operators in British Columbia and the Yukon will soon have the chance to become certified.

The association responsible for crane safety in B.C. and the Yukon completed a pilot program and is now launching a new crane safety certification system for all operators.

Occupational health and safety regulations were updated to require crane operators to demonstrate proof of competence, due to increased construction activity.

As a result, WorkSafeBC made it necessary for all operators of boom, tower and mobile cranes to pass a mandatory written and hands-on exam.

Until now, the system was being developed and operators needed only to register and agree to take the exams when they became available.

“We are opening our door for business,” said Fraser Cocks, executive director of the BC Association for Crane Safety (BCACS).

“We are not yet there 100 per cent, but we are aiming to be fully operational by February. We are getting office space and infrastructure in place, as well as hiring people.”

The BCACS in partnership with WorkSafeBC, the BC Industry Training Authority (ITA) and 52 members of the crane industry spent the last three years developing the CraneSafe Certificate system.

“The pilot program is completed and the model is established and has proven itself,” said Cocks.

“We vetted all the findings of the pilot program through the industry consultation process, which included owners and operators of cranes. Now that industry is satisfied with the model, we are working with WorkSafeBC and the ITA to get all the processes in place.”

The BCACS has identified and registered more than 10,000 crane operators who need to be assessed and certified. The names of these operators will be forwarded by the BCACS to CraneSafe Certification, who will contact the operators and set up an appointment for assessment.

“We are now moving forward and engaging with industry to get those 10,000 people registered and assessed,” he said.

“We are sending out letters to this group. We will be assessing these people in lumps of 2,500 according to when they registered.”

According to Cocks, two different groups of operators will need to go through the assessment process.

The first group is made up of incumbent operators, who are presently working in the industry.

The second group will be made up of new people coming into the system.

The BCACS has developed assessments that evaluate the competence of apprentices learning on the job.

However, the certification system is designed to put all operators through the same process, regardless of which stream they are in.

The incumbent crane operators will be assessed at the site of their choice on the crane of their choice. If the person being assessed is a mobile crane or boom truck operator, they have the option of driving their crane to a facility in the Lower Mainland.

The assessment tests crane operators against competence standards developed by industry and registered as the official provincial standards for crane operations by the ITA.

The assessment is designed to allow operators to demonstrate their skill and knowledge of safe crane operation and has the following five parts: hand signals, load chart and rigging, pre-operational inspection, crane setup and hazard assessment, and crane operation.

The assessment takes between 1.5 and two hours to complete and the results of the assessment will be mailed to the candidates within one week.

Upon successful completion, the operator will be issued the CraneSafe Certificate by mail.

If the operator doesn’t pass, they will be given an opportunity to reassess within three months.

The CraneSafe assessors are experienced crane operators with years of experience operating and supervising crane operations.

Some have previous teaching experience from the Operating Engineers Training Plans in BC and Ontario, Durham College in Whitby, Ont., as well as the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT) in Edmonton.