Florida Crane Training FAQ

No. Florida has no crane operator license, and no Florida county or city licenses crane operators. On construction work, federal OSHA's 29 CFR 1926.1427 is what applies: certification from an accredited testing organization for the type of crane, plus a documented evaluation by your employer.

Federal OSHA. Florida has no OSHA-approved State Plan, so the federal agency covers private employers through its Florida area offices. State and local government workers are not covered by federal OSHA, and no state program covers them either, though many public employers require certification anyway.

Section 489.1132, F.S., applies when a tower crane, mobile crane or hoist is on a construction, demolition or excavation site. The contractor in control needs a hurricane preparedness plan for that equipment available at the site, and must have the equipment secured at least 24 hours before hurricane impacts are expected, following the manufacturer's high-wind instructions. Mobile cranes with a boom under 25 feet or a rated capacity under 15,000 pounds are outside the law's definition. It adds no operator license.

No, and be wary of anyone who says otherwise. The written exams can be taken through NCCCO's Online Proctored Testing, at a test center or at a test event, but the practical exam is always run in person on a real crane at a practical test site. Our courses prepare you for the written side; the practical takes seat time and an examiner.

Match the course to the certification you are going for. Hydraulic and lattice machines point to Mobile Crane Operator; boom trucks with a fixed cab and service-body cranes have their own courses, as do tower, articulating and digger derrick work. If you hook loads or give signals, look at Rigger Level I and Signal Person. The course list has all of them.

NCCCO certification is good for five years. You retake the written specialty exams in the 12 months before expiration, and if you can document at least 1,000 hours of crane-related experience during the certification period, the recertification practical is waived. Miss the expiration date and you test again from scratch. Our Mobile Crane Recertification course is built for that review.

Under 1926.1428 the signal person must be qualified, either by a third-party qualified evaluator or by the employer's own qualified evaluator, and the employer has to keep proof of it. A third-party signal person certification is the simplest way to show that on a busy Florida site with several trades.

Partly. Digger derricks augering holes and setting or removing utility poles under OSHA's Subpart V power line rules have a limited exemption in 1926.1400(c)(4). Work that is not pole work, such as setting a pad-mount transformer, is not exempt. Many utilities and line contractors require digger derrick certification regardless, so check with yours.

Mines are regulated by MSHA, not by OSHA Subpart CC, so the federal crane operator certification rule does not govern lifts on mine property. Mine operators and their contractors often ask for NCCCO certification as a hiring or contract requirement, and it travels with you if you move to construction.

It did. A 2008 county ordinance covered tower cranes, operator certification and storm preparation, but much of it was found preempted by federal law, affirmed by the Eleventh Circuit in 2010, and a 2012 state law preempted the remaining local hoisting-equipment rules. Nothing county-specific applies in Miami-Dade today beyond ordinary permitting.

Yes. Contractors, rental companies and utilities can enroll several workers at once. Send the request through the enrollment form with the number of people and the courses you are looking at, and an enrollment advisor will reply.

Any device with a current web browser and an internet connection. The courses are self-paced and open 24/7, so you can work through practice questions on a phone during a weather stand-down and pick up on a laptop at home.

Fill out the form on the get started page with the courses you want. An enrollment advisor replies to the request and walks you through access. There is no phone line or walk-in office; the form is the way to reach us.

No. We offer exam preparation, not hiring and not guarantees. Passing depends on how well you prepare and how you perform on exam day, and the hands-on practical still has to be passed in person.