HIAB Picker Operator Training
In our industry, most knuckle boom cranes get called “HIAB” cranes or pickers. If you want to get technical, they are actually called: Truck Mounted Articulated Loader Cranes, but whatever you want to call them is fine with us.
HIAB is a well known brand and all the other manufactures in Alberta have been fighting for market share against HIAB for a long time. Palfinger is likely the second most recognized brand in our provinces as over the past few years the dealers have done a fantastic job of growing their market share accordingly. HIAB picker trucks are most commonly cranes installed either behind the cab (BOC), or mid-mount behind a vertical tool box, usually called a “coffin box” for short, then the picker, then a deck with a flip over 5th wheel (or fixed) and were mostly installed on Ford F550 trucks but now with newer chassis coming out that seem to be able to withstand the beating they usually take. Lets face it, Alberta secondary roads are not nice to anyone’s gear so this is a cost of doing business in the “patch” for sure.
We get asked a lot about our picker crane operator training program we have and we are always upfront with everyone, “this program is voluntary only” ,there is no regulation or requirement to have your operators certified, ticketed or otherwise in AB, SK or MB UNLESS, unless your HIAB picker lifts more than 8-tons in Alberta. In Saskatchewan they have changed the program yet again and have made it more confusing, but it’s now 0-15 tons, your operator is supposed to go through a 40-hour training program, put on by the apprenticeship board last we heard. This may have changed again as we called them and no one could give us an answer that made sense, so we continue to provide our services in Sask until told otherwise.
So no matter the crane you have installed on your truck, Fassi, Palfinger, HIAB, Ferrari, Amco Veba, Atlas, Copma, Effer, etc, our knuckle crane training program was designed to meet your needs. We provide a picker operator safety certificate and wallet card as well for your records and in PDF if you want to send to your contracts.
So if someone tells you that your operators need to be certified or ticketed, it’s likely due to one of the operators COR safety requirements and it’s not at all a bad thing is it? Many times over when we do a training we get a lot of the same questions and responses, being that even the most experienced picker operator learns something and that is our end goal. To instill safety and long term ownership of the picker truck so that the owner can get the best out of their operators and their gear.
If you have any questions on what is what or just to find out our pricing, needs, etc, call us at (877) 200-8715 or send us an email buy clicking HERE. We’ll do our best to back to you within an hour or two.