In August 1997, the Minister of Human Resources announced that all crane operators were required to register with the Department of Occupational Safety and Health before being allowed to operate cranes. The types of cranes in question were tower cranes, mobile cranes (wheeled) and mobile cranes (tracked).

To enforce this directive, the Department will use the provision of 26(1) of the Factories and Machinery (Notification, Certificate of Qualification and Inspection) Regulations, 1970 to require all cranes in question to have a qualified operator before they can operate.

Crane operators are required to attend a crane operator course at a training centre recognised by the Department. This is to determine their skill level and also to enable them to learn the correct and safe crane operating procedures. Each training centre wishing to organise the course must first obtain approval from this Department.