I was told the FRA is going to require all crane operators to be certified by 2019. I was also told that this was for tourist railroads as well. I have no other information.
But I was wondering how you can certify or keep certified your operators when they are all volunteers and only maybe run the crane once or twice a year.
I an referring to the older crane not the truck cranes.
As I am an operator on a Brownhoist cane I want to make sure that we stay legal.

It would appear it is true. http://www.apta.com/gap/fedreg/Document ... 20Rule.pdf

This is a fairly long document, but search for the word "crane" and you'll find the section.

It appears the railroad industry wants to exempt themselves from OSHA's version of crane operator regulations and wants the FRA to develop railroad specific rules.

Greg

I highly recommend ordering the 'Rigging Manual' by D.E. Dickie from 'The Infrastructure Health and Safety Association' for all you crane operators out there. Their web site is http://www.ihsa.ca. It is well worth the money and it is used for most crane training in the U.S.

I read the proposed rule and comments and found Section IV part F that discussed tourist, historical and excursion railroads. From the commentary, it appears that the FRA intends to continue with its "FRA Lite" treatment of these entities. How much regulation appears to depend on how much the operation is on "the general system". If you are insular or connected to the general system but do not operate on the general system, you are exempt. Organizations like Strasburg and the Grand Canyon RR will fall under the rule. At least that is what I THOUGHT the article said. But I am not a lawyer.

It may also be prudent to check with your state Occupational Health or Labor boards as some states (such as Montana) require licensing for crane operators. I suspect such agencies cut little slack for operators being volunteers. This is especially of note for operations that are insular or otherwise not under general FRA oversight.

Michael Seitz
Missoula MT

This site will give you everything you need to know about crane licensing.

http://www.nccco.org/home


Scott

Actually it doesn't. None of the crane specialties they test for cover railroad cranes. And I've talked to them about it. The only national certification I've found for railroad crane operators is the Navy's, and that should be going away since the last of the Navy locomotive cranes has left the inventory.

Greg

Does anyone have the USN Document number for Locomotive Crane training and testing? Does anyone have a copy or know of digital copies available?
Rich C.

Google P-307 Crane Handbook. That will get you started. As to the equipment specific testing material, I'll take another try and my friends at Puget Sound, but I don't know if that one is publicly releasable.

Greg

RE Strasburg FRA

Everything I understand would certainly place Strasburg under FRA. I mean, they are an active freight railroad with interchange.

I think Grand Canyon is a safe bet also of being subject to regulation, based on grade crossings, scale of operation, and occasional interline movements of special trains. In fact, I would be they are better offer with respect to state regulation and insurance by falling under FRA.

None of this really addresses the crane operation regulation, though.