Curious about Operator opinions on training.   Should there be a national standard for training, certification, and licenseing of concrete pump operators similar to the OSHA requirement for Crane Operators?

More government regulation...Yes!

In belgium the gouvernment is working on making trainig- certification required to work a concrete pump. I allready have mine.

this is an education on 

basic safety

specific safety

driving and maintenance of a concrete pump

conrete quality

communication and administration

enviremental care

yeah more obama rules and regs just what we need.  Hey mike go threw a osha book and see if you can understand it. 

Yes a course and then apprentice under a certified operator for a specified period of time. You need a licence to drive a pump why not to operate it.  You need to be certified to operate a lift but not a pump    go figure????

Putz63 - I am the ultimate conservative when it comes to more government regulations - I hate them and most of them are stupid, poorly written and developed by buffoons.  That is why operators need to get involved and help develop a program that does the job.

If you and other operators don't get involved then one day some buffoon is going to write some stupid rule or regulation that makes no sense and YOU will have to abide by it. 

mike,

      You are 100% correct, but I thought this is the reason we pay omage to ACPA to get rules and regs, for our industry,

 They are the trade group, for us!  And For the Record I  think the president is a complete baffoon who is going out of his way to destroy this country!!!!

The ACPA was formed and run by the owners of concrete pump companies looking out for their own interests.  Nothing wrong with that however the only time they look out for your interests is when it affects theirs.   When it comes to a multitude of questions - they will not answer them or even acknowledge the questions.  This is because once they do there becomes a paper trail and they are scared of attorneys following that trail.

However even as an organization they will often not make the hard decisions needed for safety because they do not want one of their own being sued and having the very group they belong to testifying against thier own members.

Having the gov set standards would be like asking to bal there checkbooks,to stupid.Now a strong union with app program,mmm

Having a union do it would be worse then the government with a checkbook - there would be no money in the bank.  They are only out to get money to support the Rulers of the Union and his worship in  the whitehouse along with his minions in cogress.  Now if there was a union of JUST concrete pump operators - - - - -

I was just introducing a thought,perhaps not achievable but more than the government.The owners setting standards such as that,I would bet on aliens.The government,they are more centered on invading a woman's  body.so the only thing that has invoked change is the union.As far as i'm concerned they are the only ones that could do it.

I humbly disagree on the Union.  Let just say most of them couldn't write a regulation with their collective brain cells.  I am talking about the ones who run the union not the rank and file.  However a Union of Concrete Pump Operators completely independent of Operating Engineers or any other Union would make sense.  

Many - what are you doing with yourself these day?  If you are bored Start a Concrete Pump Operator Union.  It would solve a host of problems.

BIG FAT NO

I don't understand how it should be so difficult.. Just look at how its aranged with cranes, trucks, forklifts etc etc.. who is responsible for the rules there? Do it the same with concretepumps..

You don't like ACPA cert program?

I know several people that are book smart and can't tie there shoes.Hands on training is needed

When i worked in chicago i was in the operators union. They tried trainin people to run concrete pumps but without puttin concrete in the machine. Then when they sent these guys out to jobs they couldnt get concrete through the machine, lol. They need hands on training to learn to do what we do. The owner of my co wants me to hire and train someone but doesnt understand how long it will take for him to become to be a good operator.

as delee7729 asked, do you know what is included now in the ACPA certification/training program? It's been beefed up and includes training and experience levels. For intro: http://www.concretepumpers.com/viewer_static.html and for its webpage: http://www.concretepumpers.com/cgi-bin/htmlos.cgi/00245.1.1273949965411415002? Regardless of your opinions of how ACPA started or conducts business, you should be able to see that this is national, and it is aimed 100% at the well-being of the industry and its operators.

Back in the day; everyone went out back and smoked a fatty; that was the safety meeting.

In Australia we have to have a high risk license to operate a concrete boom pump, class pb or placing boom same high risk license crane operators have to have just different classification, also before you can go north to the mining operations you must also have whats called a VOC or verification of competency just to ensure you didnt get your ticket ten years ago and forget stuff ,so we have a two tiered system for mining industry and high risk license for normal operators, bit expensive but seems to work well ensuring operators are ticketed and knowledgable