Crane operator rules in Connecticut

This page reports what the official source says. It is not legal advice: ask the office named here. The sources are Chapter 539 of the Connecticut General Statutes as published by the General Assembly, the Department of Administrative Services (DAS) pages on cranes and on the Examining Board for Crane Operators, and a Montana Department of Labor and Industry paper that compares state crane licensing. The national picture is on the parent page, cranes in tree work.

At a glance

Item	What the sources say
Law	Chapter 539 of the General Statutes, sections 29-221 to 29-225
Regulator	Examining Board for Crane Operators, within the Department of Administrative Services
What is needed	A crane operator licence; an apprentice certificate of registration; a crane owner certificate of registration
Cranes covered	Power-operated equipment with a manufacturer's rated capacity exceeding 2,000 pounds, including knuckle-boom cranes and boom truck cranes
Licence term	Two years, with an examination every four years before renewal
Exceptions naming trees	Item (4) of each exceptions list includes "agriculture or arboriculture"

What DAS says

The DAS page on cranes says that to operate a crane or hoisting equipment in the state, a person must hold a valid operator license. It describes the Examining Board for Crane Operators, established under section 29-222, as assisting the Commissioner by specifying qualifications for applicants, examination requirements, procedures for issuing and renewing licences and certificates of registration, and examination and application fees, and as administering the licensure examinations and setting passing grades. It says the Office of State Fire Marshal sits within DAS. The statute, section 29-222, puts the five-member board in DAS, with one DAS employee, one crane operator with at least ten years of experience, one member for crane owners and two public members. The DAS fees page lists US$25.00 for an apprentice application, valid one year; for a crane operator, US$100.00 for a new application, US$50.00 for renewal (biennial) and US$50.00 for a recertification exam (quadrennial); and for crane equipment registration, US$40.00 for a new application and US$25.00 for renewal (annual). The DAS eligibility page lists an age of at least eighteen, a minimum of two years of work experience, and a passing grade on the written and practical examinations.

Which cranes the statute covers

Section 29-221 defines a crane as power-operated equipment that can hoist, lower and horizontally move a suspended load and that has a manufacturer's maximum rated hoisting or lifting capacity exceeding two thousand pounds. Its list of examples, which it says is not limited to those, includes articulating cranes such as knuckle-boom cranes, mobile cranes such as commercial truck-mounted and boom truck cranes, service or mechanic trucks with a hoisting device, and derricks. Hoisting equipment other than cranes is a separate term, tied to construction, demolition or excavation work at a site where the project estimated cost is more than US$1,250,000 and the equipment is rated above five tons with a reach over thirty-two feet.

What the statute leaves out

Section 29-221a lists equipment excluded from the chapter. It includes, among seventeen items:

power shovels, excavators, wheel loaders, backhoes and track loaders, including when used with chains, slings or other rigging to lift suspended loads;
digger derricks used for augering holes for poles carrying electric and telecommunication lines, placing and removing the poles and handling associated materials;
machinery originally designed as vehicle-mounted aerial devices for lifting personnel, and self-propelled elevating work platforms;
mechanic trucks with a hoisting device when used in equipment maintenance and repair, and machinery that hoists with a come-along or chain fall;
powered industrial forklifts, except when configured to hoist and lower by winch or hook and move a suspended load.

Subsection (b) separately excludes articulating or knuckle-boom truck cranes that deliver material to a construction site when used to transfer materials to the ground without sequencing them, or to move building supply sheet goods or packaged materials onto a structure with a fork or cradle, if the crane has a working automatic overload prevention device. Subsection (c) lists uses to which that exclusion does not apply, such as holding material in place and handling prefabricated components or structural steel.

The licence, the exceptions and the apprentice rules

Section 29-224(a) says no person shall practise or offer to perform the work of a crane operator without a valid licence issued by the board, that a licensed operator carries the licence while operating a crane, and that a crane owner may not operate or permit the operation of a crane in the state without a certificate of registration from the board. Section 29-223 sets the examinations: an applicant takes both a written and a practical examination. The written part covers the controls and performance of the specific type of equipment, load and capacity calculation, preventing and responding to power line contact, and site suitability, hazards and access. The practical part covers recognizing items in a shift inspection, operating and maneuvering skills, applying load chart information, and shutdown and securing. A licence is valid two years, and every four years the licensee passes a board examination before renewal.

Section 29-224(b) lists persons the licence requirement does not apply to. Item (4) reads, in part, that it covers persons engaged in the recreational boating or fishing industry, except when engaged in construction-related work, "or in agriculture or arboriculture". Section 29-223a(b), for hoisting equipment operators, has the same item. The statute does not define arboriculture in these sections, and none of these pages says how the board treats tree crews. The office the statute and the DAS pages name for the chapter is the Examining Board for Crane Operators, within DAS. The list also names engineers under the jurisdiction of the United States, engineers or operators employed by public utilities or industrial manufacturing plants, bucket truck or digger derrick operators on electrical projects who meet the conditions in item (3), and persons using equipment excluded by section 29-221a. Item (6) covers equipment other than a tower crane rated above 2,000 and up to 10,000 pounds where the operator qualifies under OSHA standard 1926.1427 by accredited certification, an audited employer program, military qualification or a licence under the chapter.

Section 29-224c governs apprentices. An apprentice operates only while continuously monitored by an employee or agent of the employer who holds a valid licence and performs no task that detracts from monitoring, and who is in direct line of sight and communicates orally or by hand signals, or for tower cranes is in direct communication. An apprentice may not operate where equipment could get within twenty feet of a power line of 350 kilovolts or less, or fifty feet of a larger line, nor to hoist personnel, nor in multiple equipment lifts.

Accidents and penalties

Section 29-224a says each crane or hoisting equipment owner or operator shall immediately report any accident involving the equipment to the board, which may investigate and inspect. Section 29-225 lets the board suspend or revoke a licence, certificate or registration after notice and hearing, and impose a civil penalty of not more than US$3,000 on an owner or operator who violates the chapter or its regulations.

Where Connecticut sits among the states

A Montana Department of Labor and Industry paper on OSHA against state licensing names Connecticut among the states with specific crane or hoisting operator licensure requirements. It says that in a licensing state an operator must satisfy both the state licensing requirement and the federal OSHA qualification requirement as implemented through the employer.