In November of this year, OSHA (the Occupational Safety and Health Administration) enacted a new requirement for crane operator certification. This new certification requirement is vast and of wide impact for the entire county in many different industries that utilize cranes. The requirement was announced back in 2010,
but a date of enforcement was not scheduled in the published requirement due to what’s perceived as an eventual deletion of the requirement. It’s believed that the actual enforcement of the strict and somewhat overburdening requirements will take years to be addressed by OSHA, if ever.

Western Precast, however, has jumped ahead in an effort to not only fully comply with the new requirement, but to take the lead in the precast industry. Billy Watters, our long-time dispatcher, has been certified since 2011! — a year after the certification was first posted, but not enforced. In addition, two of our veteran drivers and crane operators have also recently passed the national certification provided by NCCO (National Commission for the Certification for Crane Operators). In fact, Carlos Delgado and Jorge Olmos are the first two out of our four crane operators to achieve this certification, with Jose Gomez preparing to test before the end of 2018. Last but not least, Chris Fulk, the newest addition to our shipping staff, will be testing early next year.