a combination of formal and practical
instruction, to ensure that the operatorin
training develops the skills, knowledge
and ability to recognize and avert risk necessary
to operate the equipment safely for
assigned work.
Next, operators must be certified by a
nationally accredited, third-party certification
body to be sure that industryrecognized
criteria for written testing materials,
practical examinations, test administration,
grading, facilities/equipment
and personnel have been met. While “all
stakeholders reiterated that operator certification
is beneficial in establishing a minimum
threshold of operator knowledge and
familiarity with very basic crane operation,”
OSHA states, “every employer with whom
OSHA spoke stated that the employer’s role
in ensuring the competency of crane operators
should be allowed to continue.”
As a result, OSHA also requires that
employers evaluate their operators to
ensure they have the skills and knowledge
necessary to operate the equipment
they are assigned as well as the activities
required. Operators must also demonstrate
they have the ability to “recognize
and avert” risk. This evaluation must be
done by a qualified person and documented.
The evaluation document, which must
be made available at the worksite, must
include the names both of the operator
and the evaluator (who also has to sign
it), the date the evaluation was conducted
and the make, model and configuration of
the equipment.
NCCCO dedicated pile driver
operator certification
Not to be lost in all of this, a key aspect of
qualification is certification. The National
Commission for the Certification of Crane
Operators (NCCCO) provides the only
nationally accredited third-party certification
for dedicated pile driver operators.
In anticipation of the then-pending OSHA
rule, NCCCO and PDCA jointly developed
the NCCCO dedicated pile driver operator
certification and made it available in
January 2017. Until then, no independent
mechanism had existed for operators to
demonstrate the knowledge, skills and abilities
required of these specialized pieces
of equipment.
When developing this new certification,
NCCCO used a job analysis process to
define the knowledge and skills needed for
individuals to competently perform their
duties. NCCCO Certification Team psychometricians
worked with subject matter
experts to identify duties and tasks that
potential certificants perform on a regular
SAFETY
Photo courtesy of Norwalk Marine
88 | ISSUE 1 2021 www.piledrivers.org
/www.piledrivers.org
