Bill Elmore and Daniel Barry watch and time Brandon Leary as he attempts to lower the auxiliary ball of a crane into a barrel, one of the certification practical exam requirements.

Bill Elmore and Daniel Barry watch and time Brandon Leary as he attempts to lower the auxiliary ball of a crane into a barrel, one of the certification practical exam requirements.

Here comes the boom: Local business offers crane certification

The whole lot smelled of diesel, mud, rubber and rain. Brandon Leary, a crane operator for Crowley Maritime, delicately extended the hydraulic lift on the dull yellow crane, lowering the round weight onto a wood platform.

Bill Elmore swung his right arm horizontally, raindrops pinging from his hardhat. Leary was done with the practical exam for his crane certification and could stop the crane was all said in one hand signal.

Bill Elmore, a 30-year veteran of the Arctic Slope Regional Corporation who has operated cranes all over Alaska, teaches classes to current and aspiring crane operators at Alaska Crane Consultants, his business on Liberty Lane off Kalifornsky Beach Road. It’s hard to miss, with four different types of cranes sitting idle in the front yard.

“I originally did this for ASRC, then I sort of split off and started doing it myself,” Bill Elmore said. “We provide (the national certification) training and prep for these men to take their written and practical exams for national certification.”

Bill and Teresa Elmore, who have both lived in Alaska since the 1960s, founded the business two years ago to meet the growing need for certified crane operators, she said. They currently offer approximately six crane-specific classes a year as well as rigger and signalperson classes, as well as offering practice time on the cranes.

“Two years ago, we bought this property and started building here because there’s a demand,” Teresa Elmore said. “At that time, we were the only one in the state of Alaska that was doing crane certification.”

Before 2010, crane operators could be trained to do their job with no additional requirements. However, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued a rule in February 2010 that required all crane operators to be nationally certified in their particular type of crane. OSHA issued a three-year extension on the requirement in 2014, but the cutoff date will come in 2017.

The certifications are valid for five years and have to be conducted by an independent, accredited auditor, according to OSHA. The tests also require practical exams, where test-takers must perform tasks with an actual crane.

There are only a few places to do this in Alaska — currently, Alaska Crane Operators, a consultant in Anchorage and another in Palmer are the only options, according to the National Commission for the Certification of Crane Operators. Alaska Crane Consultants is the only brick-and-mortar location where crane operators can come to use the business’s machinery in Alaska — the other two practical testers are consultants, who can come to a company’s facilities to use their equipment, Teresa Elmore said.

“Before, you didn’t need to be certified,” Teresa Elmore said. “Now, the laws and the regulations for the government are changing to such extent that for safety, they want nationally certified crane operators.”

Bill Elmore teaches the classes at the company’s home facility but also does site-based certification, where he travels to a company’s location and trains the workers there. The company will set up the class ahead of time, but because it is more cost efficient to fly the teachers there than the many students to Kenai, Bill and Teresa Elmore will go to places like King Salmon, Alaska, to certify students, Teresa Elmore said.

The potential coming of the LNG plant to Nikiski and expansion of oil and gas assets in the Cook Inlet puts them in a good position for business expansion as well, Bill Elmore said.

“I’ve been in a good spot for a few years, since they mandated the certification,” Bill Elmore said. “In a slow time in the industry right now, I’m still excited to see this many people come in for the training because we know they’re preparing for what’s coming.”

Many of the students in the class are already employed as crane operators. The companies will sometimes pay for them to be certified, as it is now a national requirement, Teresa Elmore said.

However, others sign up to expand their skill sets. James Arness, a student who currently works for the Homer Electric Association, said he attended the class to learn to operate a crane. Having a crane operator around to take apart the turbines could be helpful for the company, he said.

“I’d be using it for something that is small-scale,” Arness said. “Turbines are heavy, but they’re not heavy in the crane world.”

The October class had students from multiple industries and across Alaska, Bill Elmore said.

“We’ve got about every industry represented in here, from the oil companies to the U.S. government,” Bill Elmore said. “They’re from everywhere. And that’s the way every test seems to be — we gather them up from everywhere.”

Bill Elmore walks the class through the safety and regulatory requirements for operating cranes in general. The students must take written and practical exams for each type of crane they will be certified on.

“Are you smarter than a fifth-grader? Then you can come in and pass the written test,” Bill Elmore said. “But it doesn’t make you a crane operator until you can prove it to us and pass the practical exam.”

The certification requirement signals a change in attitude for many companies — injuries cost money and can make them lose contracts, so they are more focused on safety than they used to be, Bill Elmore said.

“When they built the Golden Gate bridge, they used to calculate that they were going to kill so many people,” he said. “These days, the guys looking to hire the company will look at the safety record and say, ‘Hey, you’re killing guys,’ and not hire them.”

Leary, who has been certified before but took the NCCCO test for the first time last week, said many companies are looking for operators who are certified before they hire them. A 30-year crane operator who has worked in locations such as Bethel and Kotzebue, Leary said he has seen the industry grow from practical knowledge-based to more regulated and certified.

Though the technology has grown, many aspects of safety still rely on the skill of the operator, Bill Elmore said. Those coming into machine operation now will be used to cranes with more safety technology, but even the older crane operators have to be certified, he said.

“It’s about getting everybody on the same level,” Bill Elmore said.

Reach Elizabeth Earl at elizabeth.earl@peninsulalclarion.com.

Bill Elmore, the owner of Alaska Crane Consultants, administers a practcal exam Friday morning.

Bill Elmore, the owner of Alaska Crane Consultants, administers a practcal exam Friday morning.

Bill Elmore and Daniel Barry watch as Brandon Leary completes the "zigzag test," in which he must navigate a test weight through a course while avoiding the poles.

Bill Elmore and Daniel Barry watch as Brandon Leary completes the “zigzag test,” in which he must navigate a test weight through a course while avoiding the poles.

More in News

The waters of Cook Inlet lap against Nikishka Beach in Nikiski, Alaska, where several local fish sites are located, on Friday, March 24, 2023. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Unprecedented closures threaten setnet way of life

Setnetters have been vocal about their opposition to the way their fishery is managed

Legislative fiscal analysts Alexei Painter, right, and Conor Bell explain the state’s financial outlook during the next decade to the Senate Finance Committee on Friday. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
Legislators eye oil and sales taxes due to fiscal woes

Bills to collect more from North Slope producers, enact new sales taxes get hearings next week.

Expert skateboarder Di’Orr Greenwood, an artist born and raised in the Navajo Nation in Arizona and whose work is featured on the new U.S. stamps, rides her skateboard next to her artworks in the Venice Beach neighborhood in Los Angeles Monday, March 20, 2023. On Friday, March 24, the U.S. Postal Service is debuting the “Art of the Skateboard,” four stamps that will be the first to pay tribute to skateboarding. The stamps underscore how prevalent skateboarding has become, especially in Indian Country, where the demand for designated skate spots has only grown in recent years. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
Indigenous artists help skateboarding earn stamp of approval

The postal agency ceremoniously unveiled the “Art of the Skateboard” stamps in a Phoenix skate park

Bruce Jaffa, of Jaffa Construction, speaks to a group of students at Seward High School’s Career Day on Thursday, March 23, 2023, at Seward High School in Seward, Alaska. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Seward students talk careers at fair

More than 50 businesses were represented

Alaska state Sen. Bert Stedman, center, a co-chair of the Senate Finance Committee, listens to a presentation on the major North Slope oil project known as the Willow project on Thursday, March 23, 2023, in Juneau, Alaska. The committee heard an update on the project from the state Department of Natural Resources and the state Department of Revenue. (AP Photo/Becky Bohrer)
Official: Willow oil project holds promise, faces obstacles

State tax officials on Thursday provided lawmakers an analysis of potential revenue impacts and benefits from the project

Jerry Burnett, chair of the Board of Game, speaks during their Southcentral meeting on Friday, March 17, 2023, at the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex in Soldotna, Alaska. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Board of Game decides on local proposals

Trapping setbacks, archery hunts and duck restrictions were up for consideration

Audre Hickey testifies in opposition to an ordinance that would implement a citywide lewdness prohibition in Soldotna during a city council meeting on Wednesday, March 22, 2023, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
Soldotna council kills citywide lewdness ordinance

The decision followed lengthy public comment

Samantha Springer, left, and Michelle Walker stand in the lobby of the Kenai Chamber of Commerce and Visitor Center on Wednesday, March 22, 2023, in Kenai, Alaska. (Ashlyn O’Hara/Peninsula Clarion)
Springer named new head of Kenai chamber

Springer, who was raised in Anchorage, said she’s lived on the Kenai Peninsula since 2021

Forever Dance performers rehearse “Storytellers” on Wednesday, March 22, 2023, at the Renee C. Henderson Auditorium in Kenai, Alaska. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
‘Storytellers’ weave tales with their feet

Dance and literature intersect in latest Forever Dance showcase

Most Read