Equipment Operator Certifications

[wudwoker51]

Looking for input regarding certifications for the operation of equipment, primarily cranes and boom trucks. Starting to hear that within a year anyone operating equipment capable of lifting 2000 lbs or more will have to have the NCCCO certification or equivalent certification ( don't know if one even exists ). If the IBEW doesn't become proactive on this issue we are going to lose alot of our traditional work to the IUOE.

[MI-Lineman]

Looking for input regarding certifications for the operation of equipment, primarily cranes and boom trucks. Starting to hear that within a year anyone operating equipment capable of lifting 2000 lbs or more will have to have the NCCCO certification or equivalent certification ( don't know if one even exists ). If the IBEW doesn't become proactive on this issue we are going to lose alot of our traditional work to the IUOE.

Aw God! What the hell is wrong with our freakin gov! Anyway to make money! We'll all be operators...OR WAIT...MAYBE WE'LL GET ANOTHER EXEMPTION?:rolleyes:

[electric squirrel]

Looking for input regarding certifications for the operation of equipment, primarily cranes and boom trucks. Starting to hear that within a year anyone operating equipment capable of lifting 2000 lbs or more will have to have the NCCCO certification or equivalent certification ( don't know if one even exists ). If the IBEW doesn't become proactive on this issue we are going to lose alot of our traditional work to the IUOE.

Out here in Cali we have to have them,but the operating engineers don't try to take much of our work because line work around energized circuits is considered a "special skill".Our local agreed that all JL's ,apes,and operators would get the cert. but we still wont let one of their guys run our cranes.
They try but we put our foot down!!
The test is easy( I passed it), A LOT of math,you gotta figure load weight ,plus jib weight,stowed or stored,your distance off your turret.One thing I will say is if you got the cert. a lot of other guys don't! It's a sure way to get a call! E.S.

[wudwoker51]

ES, Who makes the determination of "Special Skill" Cal OSHA? Also who paid for the certification and how long did it take to complete?

[Brad Lillie]

At camp Rilea, the 2 instructors became certified crane testers. The NWLine JATC will start doing the testing to certify for crane operatoration up here. They are being very proactive, but won't be teaching operation just testing.

I tried the test (with digger derrick hoist) and that shit was alot harder than it looked. Crazy to think people can do that with fully extended and drop in to a barrel.

Brad

[electric squirrel]

ES, Who makes the determination of "Special Skill" Cal OSHA? Also who paid for the certification and how long did it take to complete?

I guess it was our local that stood up and said it was a "special skill" !
The class was a week long,6 or 7 hours a day,and it cost somewhere in the $2000 range.You do the book work test first then run the cranes at different date.
It comes outta your pocket, I got lucky because at the time our apprenticeship paid for it (I was an ape when I got the cert.)and my employer covered me for the week I was gone!

One thing I can say is run the little crane then test on it,then run the larger crane and test,if you jump back and forth your hand eye coordination (at least mine)will get messed up because of different lever function! W.S.

[Sherlin]

I have been operating a digger derrick and a 21 ton stick crane for 20 years now, and I always called an equipment operator a lever puller because that is all they are. Built my daughter a so-called treehouse out of 40' class 4 poles. She was 9 years old and ran the line truck for me while I worked the ground. She did exactly what I told her and unloaded the poles off the trailer, dug the holes and set the poles. Never once did I have to get up on the truck. 9 year old little girl did what I have seen grown men not do as well that called themselves equipment operators. I call them LEVER PULLERS

[lineman641]

I have been operating a digger derrick and a 21 ton stick crane for 20 years now, and I always called an equipment operator a lever puller because that is all they are. Built my daughter a so-called treehouse out of 40' class 4 poles. She was 9 years old and ran the line truck for me while I worked the ground. She did exactly what I told her and unloaded the poles off the trailer, dug the holes and set the poles. Never once did I have to get up on the truck. 9 year old little girl did what I have seen grown men not do as well that called themselves equipment operators. I call them LEVER PULLERS

so you are as good as a 9 year old? you should be proud....at building a treehouse... worthless for 20 years and over payed ...you have no clue do you?

[wudwoker51]

The bottom line is that the IUOE control the vast majority of the people who do the certifing and fight like hell if anybody from the IBEW tries to become a certified NCCCO trainer. Personally all it amounts to is work raiding, because it is easier to steal work than to organize in order to gain market share. Make no mistake about it, the IUOE will try to invade and do the work that traditionally has been done by the IBEW. Maybe not energized work but definitely transmission and wind generation.

[Edge]

when the IBEW started working with the building and trades unions the lineman locals REALLY started to take it in the ass... at first it started out great narrowbacks were getting a whole new buch of work that had been sowed up buy boilermakers and milwrights in plants and co gens...

but then the other trades started to seep into our work... labours wanting to dig ditches in urd... rock heads poring crete for footers in subs that had rebar tyed by rod busters...then when the footers were cured...riggers skidin in transformers in gens and subs... the iron workers wanted the steel and then it pushed out to the highline... and of course you need termites to build forms and IUOE to do all the machine work... we gave up to much...

most of that shit started in new construction.... now they push it into energized stations...
energized highlines...

got so bad that on a job in Philly one time we had to put gbs on the towers to that they had some thing "electrical" on them so the redheads would go back to their gd Red Iron...had to put grounds on the machines just incase they hit some thing... OE disappeared...

they don't know WTF they are doing... and shouldn't be doing it...

the IO needs to get more involved for sure...

in the mean time I remember when the crane cert was just coming up for becomeing federal...

WV was all ready certing people a year or 2 before under their state what ever... I got a card... and was grandfathered under that...

same with forklift...

wonder if you guys could do something similar...

sorry for the rant

for what it's worth...

Edge

[heelwinch]

I did my share of Operating in my later years... hence the "handle".

Don't give up the oppurtunity to get your crane cert. the EO's are after those jobs. The more they get, the more your " they aren't qualified" goes out the door. There are a lot of guys out there that have some serious hours with there sticks up in the heat, and damn if they aren't getting good at it.
We fought it hard, but we never seemed to have enough JL's on the job, and there were only a few of us that had the cert., something had to go out.

Diversity is the key men. know matter how much you hate it... just keep telling your ape it's part of his job. :)

I never even gave it a thouhgt when I was running a shovel in my first years. setting our own footers for towers. Now you tell an ape to get busy digging he most likely would walk off.

[Sherlin]

What I said IDIOT was that my 9 year old daughter was better than most of the so-call EO out there that cant do line work all they know how to do is pull lever's. It's bad when a customer comments on how my crew gets more done with a 6 man crew where everyone pulls together than a bonified by the book union crew where the mentality is "it's not in my job discription" thats what "Joe" is paid for. Hell an EO is nothin more than a glorified grunt

[electric squirrel]

So sherylin are you an operator in the IBEW or the OE's?

[Sherlin]

Electric Squirrel, I have never had the title as a EO, MY experance in line work started in 1984, I have good common sense so the reply I made about EO's is the fact that for the most part an EO's responsilities are limited. Where as a journeyman lineman are many, including operating equipment. The whole deal about certification? For what, any time I needed a crane above what we hand on hand, that being a 21 ton stick crane, we called Superior crane. So why have certification for a digger derrick, as I said efore a child can run one with good supervision, And yes Squirrel I can still be on top of a 45 ft pole and throw my hard hard up in the air and beat it to the ground in time to catch it. Yes sometimes I miss catching it.

[wudwoker51]

You hit the nail on the head Edge, the IBEW obviously has more loyality to their building trade buds than the outside branch and always has. Hell an IBEW man is head of the BT and they still f%*# us every chance they get.

[Highplains Drifter]

[QUOTE The whole deal about certification? QUOTE]



The way I am seeing it is we now have a whole bunch of folks certified but they are not qualified. All the hours I have spent in a crane basket and now someone is going to come out and tell us how to set up our cranes! We solved the problem by going back to remote controls so we don't have to have someone on the crane running us.:D

[MI-Lineman]

[QUOTE The whole deal about certification? QUOTE]



The way I am seeing it is we now have a whole bunch of folks certified but they are not qualified. All the hours I have spent in a crane basket and now someone is going to come out and tell us how to set up our cranes! We solved the problem by going back to remote controls so we don't have to have someone on the crane running us.:D

Kinda like the new apes comin threw (HERE AT LEAST!)!:cool:

[Patriot]

I agree with some type of certification or regulation, to many guys just jump on a crane and operate it in and around live transmission lines while doing maintenance and construction. That practice has always given me ulcers.

[wudwoker51]

It is national Patriot, being pushed by OSHA who of course has been heavily lobbied by the IUOE. Hell around my neck of the woods the only dumbasses contacting energized lines with equipment are the operating engineers. A few years ago at a peaker plant that was under construction the IUOE raised hell when they found out that an IBEW man was running a crane in the switchyard. Of course we told them to pound sand, but they were able to pressure the GC into switching the work assignment . Low and behold when the crane showed up on the job they parked the lowboy under the 3-phase temporary and burned it down while unloading the crane! Never even got it off the trailer, stupid is as stupid does.

[unionhand14]

local 222 has already started putting together a plan to get our union members certified for crane operation. some of the contractors (union and non union) have also started paying to get us certified including myself. the class is very simple especially for all you guys that have been doing it already for so many years. osha says anything with a winch that holds a suspended load the operator has to be certified and yes that does include the jib on the bucket. i know its stupid but it is what it is. i will say that the certification is a good thing and if you ever had someone operate that wasn't worth a damn you should agree. a guy who isn't a good operator probably still won't be worth a damn but maybe he will know what he can and can't lift and that he is charged with manslaughter if someone dies because of his @#%!up! how many eo's and heo's have you met that that cant read or calculate a load chart properly. I've seen enough booms snapped, cranes laid over and been enough baskets to know that these guys need some kind of training. oh and osha also says that if you use a remote to operate a basket you are in by yourself you dont have to be certified but the moment another person gets in then you do.

[tramp67]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't it true that the State of New York doesn't even recognize the NCCCO certification, and that you are required to have the New York license to even operate a digger derrick? Personally, the worst "crane operators" I've had the misfortune of working around were in fact NCCCO certified operators.

[Pootnaigle]

I aint sure But I bleve all this hullabalo is created by the operating engineers wanting to get a lock on all work asossiated with lifting any heavy stuff.. linemen been doin it fer years wif OTJ training and no certifications but now hafta be certified............. Jus another power struggle for a corner of the work market.

[Special ED]

I aint sure But I bleve all this hullabalo is created by the operating engineers wanting to get a lock on all work asossiated with lifting any heavy stuff.. linemen been doin it fer years wif OTJ training and no certifications but now hafta be certified............. Jus another power struggle for a corner of the work market.

Thats exactly what it is.. We disscussed this topic last month at our local and they are sending guys.. Class costs 14,000 from what the BM said but thats for how ever many people show up.. And the union is payin for our class.

I would love to see an operator or engineer try to do my job. Bet ya I'd get the call out to go rebuild what they burned down..

[Highplains Drifter]

Just wondering if the Locals are helping to get more of these certification classes scheduled?