The state’s labor commissioner, M. Patricia Smith, announced yesterday that she was suspending the certificates of 129 crane operators after learning that licenses were issued to individuals who had failed the crane operators’ exam. She said that the state inspector general, Kristine Hamann, had recently notified the department that the operators’ certificates had been improperly issued from 1972 to 2000. “This is a public safety issue,” Ms. Smith said, adding that the Labor Department was urging the crane operators to retake the practical exam or have their licenses revoked. The Labor Department is checking 3,000 crane operators in the state to determine if their certifications were based on a passing score.þþ
Source: NY Times
