Crane operator rules in Manitoba

This page reports what the official source says. It is not legal advice: ask the office named here. The sources are the Manitoba Workplace Safety and Health Regulation, Apprenticeship Manitoba's trade profile and the federal Job Bank. The national picture and the other provinces are on the parent page, cranes in tree work.

At a glance

Item	What the sources say
Rule	Workplace Safety and Health Regulation, Manitoba Regulation 217/2006, Part 23, section 23.3
Operator rule	Only a person authorized to practise the trade of crane and hoist operator may operate the cranes listed
Cranes listed	Mobile crane with a rated load of 7,300 kg or more; boom truck hoist with a rated load of 7,300 kg or more; tower crane
Trades	Boom Truck Hoist Operator (provincial), Mobile Crane Operator (Red Seal), Tower Crane Operator (Red Seal)
Regulator	Apprenticeship Manitoba

What the regulation says

Part 23 of the regulation, headed Cranes and Hoists, applies to every workplace where a crane or hoist is used. Section 23.3(1) says an employer must ensure that only a person who is authorized to practise the trade of crane and hoist operator under the Trade of Crane and Hoisting Equipment Operator Regulation, Manitoba Regulation 91/2000, operates a mobile crane with a rated load of 7,300 kg or more, a boom truck hoist with a rated load of 7,300 kg or more, or a tower crane. Section 23.3(2) says the operator must not leave the controls unattended while a load is being hoisted. The copy read carried the dates September 1, 2026 to October 6, 2026. See the Manitoba Workplace Safety and Health Regulation.

The regulation defines a crane as equipment designed to lift loads, lower loads and move loads horizontally when lifted. The definition includes mobile, tower, bridge, barge-mounted, overhead and rail-mounted cranes, gantry cranes, jib, wall and pillar cranes exceeding 907 kg (one tonne) capacity, and a boom truck. The regulation does not say whether a knuckleboom crane on a tree-service truck is a boom truck. Other duties in Part 23 include a logbook for a crane with a rated load capacity of 907 kg or more, and a load chart showing rated load at all permitted boom angles and radiuses on a mobile crane or boom truck. The text read does not mention tree work.

The trades and how they are earned

Apprenticeship Manitoba's crane and boom truck operator trade profile names three trades: Boom Truck Hoist Operator, certified provincially, and Mobile Crane Operator and Tower Crane Operator, each certified under the interprovincial Red Seal. The profile describes the work as lifting, moving, positioning, unloading and reloading machinery, equipment and other large objects at construction sites, on offshore oil rigs, in rail yards, docks and plants, and says it does not apply to equipment used exclusively for fire fighting.

Trade	Levels, hours a year	Qualifier route
Boom Truck Hoist Operator	2 levels, 1,250	3 years, 3,750 hours
Mobile Crane Operator	3 levels, 1,800	4.5 years, 7,650 hours
Tower Crane Operator	2 levels, 1,500	3 years, 4,500 hours

Hours a year count on-the-job time and technical training together.

The profile says technical training for all three is delivered by Red River College Polytechnic, and that the trade qualifier route needs no additional practical exam but requires Manitoba residence, an employer declaration and a statutory declaration. It links the compulsory trade fact sheet and the trade regulation.

What Job Bank adds

The Job Bank requirements page for crane operators in Manitoba says mobile crane operator trade certification, for specified types of cranes, is compulsory in Manitoba and several other provinces, and that tower crane operator and hoist operator certification are compulsory in Manitoba too. It adds that mobile crane operators may require a provincial licence to drive mobile cranes on public roads, and that some employers require internal company certification. See Job Bank on crane operators in Manitoba.