(1) The department shall establish, by rule, a crane certification program for cranes used in construction. In establishing rules, the department shall consult nationally recognized crane standards.

(2) The crane certification program must include, at a minimum, the following:

(a) The department shall establish certification requirements for crane inspectors, including an experience requirement, an education requirement, a training requirement, and other necessary requirements determined by the director;

(b) The department shall establish a process for certified crane inspectors to issue temporary certificates of operation for a crane and the department to issue a final certificate of operation for a crane after a certified crane inspector determines that the crane meets safety or health standards, including meeting or exceeding national periodic inspection requirements recognized by the department;

(c) Crane owners must ensure that cranes are inspected and load proof tested by a certified crane inspector at least annually and after any significant modification or significant repairs of structural parts. If the use of weights for a unit proof load test is not possible or reasonable, other recording test equipment may be used. In adopting rules implementing this requirement, the department may consider similar standards and practices used by the federal government;

(d) Tower cranes and tower crane assembly parts must be inspected by a certified crane inspector both prior to assembly and following erection of a tower crane;

(e) Before installation of a nonstandard tower crane base, the engineering design of the nonstandard base shall be reviewed and acknowledged as acceptable by an independent professional engineer;

(f) A certified crane inspector must notify the department and the crane owner if, after inspection, the certified crane inspector finds that the crane does not meet safety or health standards. A certified crane inspector shall not attest that a crane meets safety or health standards until any deficiencies are corrected and the correction is verified by the certified crane inspector; and

(g) Inspection reports including all information and documentation obtained from a crane inspection shall be made available or provided to the department by a certified crane inspector upon request.

(3) Except as provided in RCW 49.17.410(2), any crane operated in the state must have a valid temporary or final certificate of operation issued by the certified crane inspector or department posted in the operator’s cab or station.

(4) Certificates of operation issued by the department under the crane certification program established in this section are valid for one year from the effective date of the temporary operating certificate issued by the certified crane inspector.

(5) This section does not apply to maritime cranes regulated by the department.

Intent—Effective date—2007 c 27: See notes following RCW 49.17.400.