[August 09, 2010] Cranes and Derricks in Construction Tweet Aug 09, 2010 (Labor Department Documents and Publications/ContentWorks via COMTEX) -- SUMMARY: OSHA is revising the Cranes and Derricks Standard and related sections of the Construction Standard to update and specify industry work practices necessary to protect employees during the use of cranes and derricks in construction. This final standard also addresses advances in the designs of cranes and derricks, related hazards, and the qualifications of employees needed to operate them safely. Under this final rule, employers must determine whether the ground is sufficient to support the anticipated weight of hoisting equipment and associated loads. The employer is then required to assess hazards within the work zone that would affect the safe operation of hoisting equipment, such as those of power lines and objects or personnel that would be within the work zone or swing radius of the hoisting equipment. Finally, the employer is required to ensure that the equipment is in safe operating condition via required inspections and that employees in the work zone are trained to recognize hazards associated with the use of the equipment and any related duties that they are assigned to perform. EFFECTIVE DATE: This final rule will become effective November 8, 2010. The incorporation by reference of specific publications listed in this final rule is approved by the Director of the Federal Register as of November 8, 2010. ADDRESSES: In accordance with 28 U.S.C. 2112(a)(2), the Agency designates Joseph M. Woodward, Associate Solicitor of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health, Office of the Solicitor, Room S-4004, U.S. Department of Labor, 200 Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20210, to receive petitions for review of the final rule. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: General information and press inquiries. Contact Ms. Jennifer Ashley, Director, Office of Communications, OSHA, U.S. Department of Labor, Room N-3647, 200 Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20210; telephone (202) 693-1999 or fax (202) 693-1634. * Technical inquiries. Contact Mr. Garvin Branch, Directorate of Construction, Room N-3468, OSHA, U.S. Department of Labor, 200 Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20210; telephone (202) 693-2020 or fax (202) 693-1689. * Copies of this Federal Register notice. Available from the OSHA Office of Publications, Room N-3101, U.S. Department of Labor, 200 Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington DC 20210; telephone (202) 693-1888. * Electronic copies of this notice. Go to OSHA's Web site (http://www.osha.gov), and select "Federal Register," "Date of Publication," and then "2010." SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Availability of Incorporated Standards. The standards published by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), the American Welding Society (AWS), the British Standards Institution (BSI), the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), the Power Crane and Shovel Association (PCSA), and the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) required in subpart CC are incorporated by reference into this subpart with the approval of the Director of the Federal Register under 5 U.S.C. 552(a) and 1 CFR part 51. To enforce any edition other than the editions specified in subpart CC, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) must publish a notice of change in the Federal Register and the material must be available to the public. All approved material is available for inspection at the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). For information on the availability of this material at NARA, telephone 202-741-6030, or go to: http://www.archives.gov/federal_register/code_of_federal_regulations/ ibr_locations.html. Also, the material is available for inspection at any OSHA Regional Office or the OSHA Docket Office (U.S. Department of Labor, 200 Constitution Avenue, NW., Room N-2625, Washington, DC 20210; telephone 202-693-2350 (TTY number: 877-889-5627)). I. General A. Table of Contents The following Table of Contents identifies the major preamble sections in this notice and the order in which they are presented: I. General A. Table of Contents II. Background A. History B. The Cranes and Derricks Negotiated Rulemaking Advisory Committee (C-DAC) C. Hazards Associated with Cranes and Derricks in Construction Work III. The SBREFA Process IV. Summary and Explanation of the Rule V. Procedural Determinations A. Legal Authority B. Executive Summary of the Final Economic Analysis; Final Regulatory Flexibility Analysis C. OMB Review Under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 D. Federalism E. State-Plan States F. Unfunded Mandates Reform Act G. Applicability of Existing Consensus Standards H. List of Subjects in 29 CFR Part 1926 V. Authority and Signature VI. Amendments to Standards II. Background A. History The Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (84 Stat. 1590, 29 U.S.C. 651 et seq.) (the OSH Act) authorizes the Secretary of Labor to adopt safety and health standards to reduce injuries and illnesses in American workplaces. Pursuant to that authority, the Secretary adopted a set of safety and health standards applicable to the construction industry, 29 CFR part 1926. Initially, standards for the construction industry were adopted under the Construction Safety Act, 40 U.S.C. 333. Under the Construction Safety Act, those standards were limited to employers engaged in Federally-financed or Federally-assisted construction projects. The Secretary subsequently adopted them as OSHA standards pursuant to Sec. 6(a) of the OSH Act, 29 U.S. C. 655(a), which authorized the Secretary to adopt established Federal standards as OSH Act standards within the first two years the OSH Act was effective (See 36 FR 25232, Dec. 30, 1971). Subpart N of 29 CFR part 1926, entitled "Cranes, Derricks, Hoists, Elevators, and Conveyors," was originally adopted through this process. The section of subpart N of 29 CFR part 1926 that applied to cranes and derricks was former SEC 1926.550. That section relied heavily on national consensus standards that were in effect in 1971, in some cases incorporating the consensus standards by reference. For example, former SEC 1926.550(b)(2) required crawler, truck, and locomotive cranes to meet applicable requirements for design, inspection, construction, testing, maintenance, and operation prescribed in ANSI B30.5-1968, "Crawler, Locomotive and Truck Cranes." Similarly, former SEC 1926.550(e) required derricks to meet applicable requirements for design, construction, installation, inspection, testing, maintenance, and operation prescribed in ANSI B30.6-1969, "Derricks." Until today, former SEC 1926.550 was amended substantively only twice. In 1988, former SEC 1926.550(g) was added to establish clearly the conditions under which employees on personnel platforms may be hoisted by cranes and derricks (See 53 FR 29116, Aug. 2, 1988). In 1993, former SEC 1926.550(a)(19) was added to require that all employees be kept clear of lifted and suspended loads. Considerable technological advances have been made since the 1971 OSHA standard was issued. For example, hydraulic cranes were rare at that time, but are now prevalent. In addition, the construction industry has updated the consensus standards on which the original OSHA standard was based. For example, the industry consensus standard for derricks was most recently updated in 2003, and that for crawler, locomotive and truck cranes in 2007. In recent years, a number of industry stakeholders asked the Agency to update subpart N's cranes and derrick requirements. They were concerned that accidents involving cranes and derricks continued to be a significant cause of fatal and other serious injuries on construction sites and believed that an updated standard was needed to address the causes of these accidents and to reduce the number of accidents. They emphasized that the considerable changes in both work processes and technology since 1971 made much of former SEC 1926.550 obsolete. In response to these requests, in 1998 OSHA's Advisory Committee for Construction Safety and Health (ACCSH) established a workgroup to develop recommended changes to the subpart N requirements for cranes and derricks. The workgroup developed recommendations on some issues and submitted them to the full committee in a draft workgroup report. (ID-0020.) In December 1999, ACCSH recommended to OSHA that the agency consider using a negotiated rulemaking process as the mechanism to update subpart N. (OSHA-ACCSH1999-4-2006-0187-0035.) B. The Cranes and Derricks Negotiated Rulemaking Advisory Committee (C-DAC) In July 2002, OSHA announced plans to use negotiated rulemaking under the Negotiated Rulemaking Act (NRA), 5 U.S.C. 561 et seq., to revise the cranes and derricks standard. The Agency made this decision in light of the stakeholder interest in updating subpart N, the constructive discussions and work of the ACCSH workgroup, ACCSH's recommendation, a positive assessment of the criteria listed in the NRA (5 U.S.C. 563(a)) for the use of negotiated rulemaking, and the Department of Labor's policy on negotiated rulemaking (See "Notice of Policy on Use of Negotiated Rulemaking Procedures by Agencies of the Department of Labor," 57 FR 61925, Dec. 29, 1992). The Agency published a Notice of Intent to Establish a Cranes and Derricks Negotiated Rulemaking Advisory Committee ("C-DAC" or "the Committee")) (See 67 FR 46612, Jul. 16, 2002). Negotiated rulemaking is a process by which a proposed rule is developed by a committee comprised of members who represent the interests that will be significantly affected by the rule. Section 562 of the NRA defines "interest" as follows: --This is a summary of a Federal Register article originally published on the page number listed below-- Final rule. CFR Part: "29 CFR Part 1926" RIN Number: "RIN 1218-AC01" Citation: "75 FR 47906" Document Number: "Docket ID-OSHA-2007-0066" Federal Register Page Number: "47906" "Rules and Regulations" [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]