Knuckle Boom Cranes or Picker Trucks, Articulated Loader Cranes, whatever the term you have heard or know, the irony in Alberta, and many other provinces, is that unless the crane picks up more than 16,000 pounds, you are not required to have a “ticketed” operator (someone who is in the provincial apprenticeship program), however in Alberta, we have a very large concentration of small pickers and sadly, with that we also have the the highest “incident” rate simply due to the large population.
I’ve come across many companies that feel they don’t need the operators to be trained in any manner, it’s much like saying that we believe in safety…kind of. That mindset is one that will get that business into a great deal of difficulty one day, and as I tell my students, it’s not a matter of “IF”, it’s simply a matter of “when” something happens.
I love to train and the real truth is that I’ve yet to see any company that does what we do as well as we do. The real fact of the matter is that we would like to see changes to the legislation or rules, to include our training as mandatory, not simply because it would keep us very busy but it would help business owners ensure that for one year at at time, their operators will be much easier on their equipment and reduce the business owners operating costs somewhat.
I’d love to talk more to the owners about what it is we do, we welcome your phone calls or emails to really get down to talking about how we can help you save on wear and tear and equipment failure.