Crane operator rules in Minnesota

This page reports what the official source says. It is not legal advice: ask the office named here. The sources are Minnesota Statutes section 182.6525 as published by the Revisor of Statutes, MNOSHA Instruction STD 5-0.3B of May 12, 2021 from the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry, OSHA's operator qualification rule at 29 CFR 1926.1427, 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	Minnesota Statutes section 182.6525, Crane Operation, adopted May 24, 2005
Regulator	Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry, MNOSHA Compliance
Who needs a certificate	An individual operating a crane with a lifting capacity of five tons or more on a construction site
Certificate	From a nationally recognized and accredited certification program, renewed by that program every five years
Exception naming trees	Subdivision 2(5): "boating, fishing, agriculture, or arboriculture"
Effective date	July 1, 2007, per the MNOSHA instruction

What the statute says

Subdivision 1 says an individual may not operate a crane with a lifting capacity of five tons or more on a construction site unless the individual has a valid crane operator certificate received from a nationally recognized and accredited certification program. It adds that no employer, and no person under contract to construct an improvement to land, may permit any employee, agent or independent contractor to perform work in violation of the section, and that a certification must be renewed by an accredited certification program every five years. The statute is limited to construction sites. It does not define crane.

Subdivision 3 says an employer or general contractor may be cited by the commissioner for a violation of the certification requirements, and that a citation is punishable as a serious violation under section 182.666.

The exceptions

Subdivision 2 says the certification requirement does not apply to eight groups:

a trainee or apprentice under the direct supervision of a certified crane operator;
a person directly employed by a class 1 or 2 railroad, qualified by it as a crane operator or boom truck operator, on railroad property;
a person employed by or performing work for a public utility, rural electric cooperative, municipality, telephone company or industrial manufacturing plant;
a person subject to inspection under the federal Mine Safety and Health Act;
a person engaged in boating, fishing, agriculture or arboriculture;
a member of, and performing work for, a uniformed service or the United States Merchant Marine;
a person operating a crane for personal use on premises that person owns or leases;
a person operating a crane in an emergency situation.

Neither the statute nor the MNOSHA instruction defines arboriculture or says how the exception applies to a tree service working on a construction site. The instruction repeats the same eight exceptions and defines direct supervision as the certified operator being on the same working surface, within visual sighting distance of the trainee, close enough to communicate verbally and without other responsibilities that could distract from supervision.

What MNOSHA's instruction adds

The instruction tells MNOSHA investigators how to apply the statute. It says an investigator first decides whether the activity is construction work, meaning construction, alteration or repair, including painting and decorating, and that before citing the investigator must determine that the equipment is not covered by Subpart CC, the federal crane standard for construction. An individual operating a qualifying crane must give proof of certification when an investigator asks. The investigator checks that the certification card shows a certification number, a photograph of the holder, issuance and expiration dates with renewal inside the past five years, certification designations and codes, and the sponsoring organization.

The instruction says that when the statute was adopted in 2005 no nationally recognized accrediting agency provided certification for side boom or derrick operators, so the statute was not enforced for them. It lists three examples of citable conditions: an operator not carrying a valid certification card, a crane type that does not match the designation on the card, and a card the certifying organization deems invalid. Citations are serious, with severity levels set by the instruction. It states that MNOSHA adopted Subpart CC on February 7, 2011, and adopted the federal final rule on operator qualification published November 9, 2018. It also states that its directives are not legally binding declarations.

Where Minnesota sits among the states

OSHA's rule at 29 CFR 1926.1427 requires employers to ensure each operator of covered equipment is trained, certified or licensed, and evaluated. A Montana Department of Labor and Industry paper on OSHA against state licensing names Minnesota among the states that require nationally accredited certification by rule or statute without necessarily issuing a separate state operator license.