SAFETY
YES, OSHA REQUIRES
DEDICATED PILE DRIVER
OPERATORS TO BE CERTIFIED
An overview for
PDCA members
When the federal
Occupational Safety and
Health Administration
By Tara Whittington,
National Commission for the
Certification of Crane Operators
(OSHA) passed its final crane rule (1926
Subpart CC) in November 2018, the crane
industry had long anticipated its requirement
for operators to be certified. Those
in other related industries such as the pile
driving industry, however, may not have
realized that they were also impacted. Not
only does the rule apply to those who use
pile driving attachments on cranes, but it
also applies to dedicated pile driving rigs.
In fact, the full rule applies to dedicated
pile driving rigs except for the requirements
for anti two-blocking devices and
load weighing and similar devices (the latter
only on equipment manufactured after
November 2011).
A key requirement of the new rule calls
for employers to ensure that their operators
are “qualified,” but there are three
components to the qualification process:
training, certification and evaluation.
First, each operator-in-training must be
provided with sufficient training, through
Photo courtesy of Palmetto Pile Driving
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