Answer: The final rule for Cranes and Derricks in Construction (the “cranes standard”) was published on August 9, 2010. The Association of American Railroads (AAR) filed a petition for review on October 7, 2010, challenging certain exemptions affecting railroad roadway work equipment. OSHA and AAR negotiated a settlement agreement to resolve the litigation. The agreement requires OSHA to undertake rulemaking to address the compliance concerns of AAR and included draft regulatory text that serves as the basis for this proposed rule. The agreement was reviewed by the relevant railway worker labor organizations and the Federal Railroad Administration. OSHA believes this proposal will maintain safety and health protections for workers while reducing employers’ compliance burdens.

No. OSHA recently amended the cranes standard to delay the effective date for operator certification requirements until November 10, 2018. OSHA is currently engaged in a separate “operator qualification” rulemaking that would preserve the existing employer duty to evaluate crane operators and remove rated hoisting capacities of equipment as a criterion on which different levels of operator certifications must be based. This railroad cranes rulemaking is separate from that rulemaking, although the timeframe for OSHA’s considerations of the proposals may overlap.

Answer: No. Following OSHA’s promulgation of its cranes standard, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) promulgated its own training requirements for operators of railroad “roadway maintenance machines” with cranes and explicitly stated that the FRA regulations would apply to those operators in lieu of OSHA’s crane operator certification requirements (79 FR 66460, 66475 (Nov. 7, 2014)). This FRA action has the effect of prohibiting OSHA, under section 4(b)(1) of the OSH Act, from enforcing its operator certification requirements with respect to the railroad employers of these operators. OSHA included an operator certification exception in its proposal to ensure that railroad employers not aware of the FRA action would understand that the certification requirements do not apply to them.

Answer: The bridge work and projects such as building a train station are performed using hoisting equipment that is typical of that used to perform most other construction work. These projects are typically contracted to traditional construction firms, so AAR agreed to exclude these projects from the scope of the exemptions.

Answer: The proposed changes are all exemptions or compliance alternatives for railroad employers. There are two types of exemptions:

• One class of railroad machinery-- flash-butt welding trucks and similar machines which only hoist/suspend a welding device or workhead assembly - would be exempt from the entire cranes standard.
• Railroad cranes are also subject to limited exemptions from specific provisions of the cranes standard. These include exemptions for: rail clamps, work area controls, rail stops, out-of-level work, the prohibition on dragging loads sideways (side loading boom), boom-hoist limiting devices, and railroad equipment modifications. The exemptions are limited to track work and do not apply when the equipment is used for bridge construction work or other traditional construction projects, such as the construction of station houses or platforms.

Answer: OSHA will follow its usual rulemaking procedures and will gather feedback during a public comment period. Once OSHA has reviewed the public comments, it expects to publish a final rule in a Federal Register notice that will also include an explanation of OSHA’s rulemaking decisions.