Minnesota contractors gear up for licensing

A construction training partnership has taken an early lead in meeting Minnesota's 2007 state requirement for crane operator certification.

Ridgewater College, Wilmar, MN, has partnered with a consortium of construction companies throughout the state to offer training and CCO certification examinations.

In the first class, held in March, 17 operators from nine companies completed four days of training. The program finished up with a CCO written test administration featuring lattice boom, large hydraulic, and small hydraulic examinations.

A couple of weeks later, students took their CCO practical exams on a lattice boom crane provided by Duininck Bros. and a large telescopic crane provided by Willmar Crane Service.

Among the companies represented in the first class were Breitbach Construction, Central Specialties, Duininck Bros, Kraus Anderson, K & S Millwrights, Marcus Construction, Mathiowetz Construction, Midwest Contractors, and Willmar Crane Service.

Instructor for the first class was Don Jordan of CICB, shown (second from left) with class participants.

Future training classes are scheduled for September and December 2006, and March and June 2007.