Crane operator rules in New Zealand

This page reports what the official source says. It is not legal advice: ask the office named here. The sources are WorkSafe New Zealand's cranes page, its Approved Code of Practice for cranes (third edition, revised November 2009, from the Department of Labour) and WorkSafe's crane operators duties matrix. WorkSafe's page says the guidance has not been updated for the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 and will be reviewed and either updated, replaced or revoked. WorkSafe New Zealand and the Department of Labour are credited as the source of the code. Some wording here follows the code closely. The national picture is on the parent page, cranes in tree work.

At a glance

Item	What the sources say
Document	Approved Code of Practice for cranes, 18 parts
Operator qualification, Part 4	Applicable unit standards as a minimum, preferably the National Certificate in Crane Operation
Is it mandatory	WorkSafe says the code is not a legislative instrument, so holding a unit standard or certificate is not mandatory
Rule that applies until the law changes	The general training provisions of the Health and Safety at Work Act
Work platforms hung from cranes	Part 17
Arboriculture	Mentioned once, in item 17.1(20)

What Part 4 says

Part 4 of the code says all persons operating or working with a crane must hold the applicable unit standards as a minimum qualification and preferably hold the relevant National Certificate in Crane Operation. Table 4.1 matches crane types to thirteen unit standards. They include 3795 (configure a mobile crane and lift and place loads), 3794 (lift and place loads with a tower crane), 16617 (operate a truck loader crane and lift and place loads), 3789 (sling regular loads and communicate during crane operations) and 24511 (configure a non-slewing articulated crane and lift and place regular loads). The table has separate rows for mobile, tower, crawler, self-erecting tower, overhead travelling, truck loader and non-slewing articulated cranes, and for slinging of regular loads.

WorkSafe adds a clarification on its cranes page. It says the code, while seen as good practice, is not a legislative instrument, so it is not mandatory to hold a unit standard or national certificate. It says a unit standard or certificate is only one way of demonstrating competency, and that until the law changes, for example by making cranes prescribed high-risk plant, only the general training provisions of the Health and Safety at Work Act apply. The page shows Last updated June 12, 2019.

The duties matrix

WorkSafe's duties matrix lists which parts of the code apply to each kind of person. It has rows for controllers, for operators of mobile, tower, self-erecting tower, gantry, truck loader, tractor and side boom, other cranes, crane-lifted work platforms and demolition ball operations, and for designers, design verifiers, manufacturers, suppliers and importers, and equipment inspectors. Each operator row carries a mark under Part 1 and under Part 4. The matrix is dated September 2009.

Part 14: truck loader cranes

Part 14 covers truck loader type cranes, including knuckle boom and telescopic or straight boom. It says design verification by an inspection body is required before use in New Zealand, and that this does not apply to truck loader cranes of lifting capacity less than 0.9 tonne metres. Parts 3, 4, 7, 8 and 9 of the code also apply to them.

Part 17: crane-lifted work platforms

Part 17 defines a crane-lifted work platform as the equipment from which personnel work, attached to the crane's hook or the head of the boom. The conditions it lists include these:

Platforms are designed, manufactured and tested to approved standards with a minimum impact factor of 1.5 and load tested to 1.5 times the safe working load, and designed or certified by a chartered professional engineer.
Sidewalls or guardrails are at least 1 metre high.
Cranes operating suspended or fixed or pendulum platforms operate at not more than 75% of their safe working load.
The crane operator is in attendance at all times while a platform is in use, and persons on the platform wear a safety harness attached by an approved lanyard.
Persons on the platform can communicate clearly with the crane operator at all times.

Item 17.1(20) says that in all other instances where it may be necessary to suspend one or more persons from a crane without an approved work platform, "e.g. in arboriculture operations", the arrangements must be in full compliance with the relevant codes of practice. The code does not name those codes in that item.