West Virginia Cranes and Slings: What you need to know

West Virginia does not have a federally approved occupational safety and health regulatory program for the state; therefore, private sector workplaces must comply with federal occupational safety and health standards.

The state requires that operators of mobile cranes must be certified to operate such cranes. There are exceptions to certification for certain operators.

The state has adopted by reference the federal cranes, derricks, and slings rules for public sector (state government operations) workplaces (WV Regulations (Reg.) 42-15-4 and WV Reg. 42-15-5). There are no state or federal safety and health rules for county or local government workplaces. The public sector rules do not apply to the Division of Corrections, Division of Health, or the Legislature.

The U.S. Department of Labor/Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) administers and enforces federal workplace safety and health requirements in private sector workplaces. The West Virginia Department of Commerce/Division of Labor (DOL) administers the state workplace safety and health rules for state government workplaces.

No person may operate a mobile crane with a lifting capacity of 5 tons or more without a valid operator certificate.

Exceptions to certification. Crane operator certification is not required for:

• An employee or contractor of any manufacturing plant or other industrial facility while operating the crane on property owned or leased by the plant or facility operators
• Military personnel operating cranes under military jurisdiction
• Farm machinery
• Any person operating a crane on his or her personal property for ...