Florence Crane Certification Prep, North Bank of the Shoals

Campus and downtown lifts

UNA is a public university of more than 7,000 students, and campuses of that size constantly renovate: new residence halls, roof replacements, chillers and cooling towers, athletics facilities. Those lifts often happen next to occupied buildings, sidewalks full of students and old trees with wide canopies. Controlling the swing radius, barricading the fall zone and having a signal person who can see both the load and the public are the real challenges.

Downtown Florence has narrow streets and older masonry buildings, where setting a rooftop unit or a steel beam may mean closing a lane and working from a cramped corner. Operators need to read the load chart at the radius that site actually allows, not the one they would prefer.

The river shapes the work

Wilson Dam, just upstream and run by TVA, is the largest conventional hydro plant in TVA’s system and passes thousands of vessels a year through its locks. Riverfront and marina projects on the Florence side sometimes call for cranes on barges or on shore near the water, where swing paths extend over the river and ground near the bank can be saturated.

Heavy rain across north Alabama has pushed the Tennessee River out of its banks before. After a wet spell, check ground bearing again before setting up near the water, and never assume yesterday’s pad is still good.

Lifts near the river also have to account for wind funneling along the water. Gusts on an open bank can run stronger than what you feel back on the street, so measure wind near boom tip height when you can and compare it against the limits in the operator’s manual before committing to a long or tall pick.

What to study first

• Mobile crane operator for the hydraulic cranes used on most commercial jobs.
• Signal person for campus and downtown picks with blind landings.
• Rigger Level I for anyone attaching loads on building and roofing jobs.
• Articulating crane operator for material delivery and setting on tight lots.

How certification works from Lauderdale County

Alabama does not issue a crane license, and neither does Florence. Private job sites fall under federal OSHA and 29 CFR 1926 Subpart CC. Tennessee is only a few miles north and runs its own state plan, TOSHA, but it doesn’t have a general state crane license either, so an accredited certification covers you on both sides of the line.

Study online on a phone, tablet or laptop at any hour. Written exams are available through Online Proctored Testing, at test centers or at test events. The practical exam is hands-on on a crane and is scheduled separately. Read our requirements guide for the full picture.