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Crane Critical Lift Plan Generator

A critical lift plan is the written record of a non-routine crane lift: what is being picked, in what configuration, over what ground, near what power lines, with what rigging and signals, and who signed for each of those answers. This template builds that record in your browser and prints on one or two Letter pages. It does not interpret a load chart — that stays the job of the qualified person planning the lift. Nothing you type is sent to our servers.

This form does not read your load chart. Rated capacity for a given radius, boom length and configuration is engineering judgment about one specific machine. Under 29 CFR 1926.1417(c)(1) the chart lives in the cab for the operator, and 1926.1417(b)(3) sends any capacity procedure the manufacturer did not supply to a registered professional engineer. Type in the numbers the qualified person took off the chart; nothing here is calculated for you.

Why this lift is treated as critical

OSHA does not define a critical lift. These are the triggers federal agency manuals and owner programs use most; check the ones your program applies.

Load, capacity and configuration

Every figure below is transcribed from the load chart and the rigging documents by the qualified person who planned the lift. This page stores and prints them. It does not check them.

From the manufacturer, the shipping papers or an industry-recognized calculation — 1926.1417(o)(3)(i).
Chart page and note number in the next field, so a reviewer can find it.
Sling and hardware ratings come from the manufacturer's tag and tables, not from this page. Rigged by a qualified rigger — 1926.1425(c)(3).

Nothing you type is sent to our servers. A draft is kept in this browser until you clear it.

Template for informational purposes only. This document must be reviewed and adapted by a competent or qualified person for your specific jobsite, equipment, and applicable federal, state, and local requirements. It does not constitute legal, engineering, or safety advice and does not by itself establish compliance with OSHA or any other standard. SteelToeTools assumes no liability for its use. Nothing you type is sent to our servers.

How to use this lift plan

  1. 1
    Find out first whether a plan is required, and by whom. OSHA requires written planning by a qualified person for a lift where more than one crane supports the load (1926.1432(a)) and for hoisting personnel (1926.1431). Everything else labeled "critical" comes from the owner's manual or your own program. The contract tells you which one applies and what it wants in the document.
  2. 2
    Get the load weight before you get anywhere near the chart. 1926.1417(o)(3)(i) wants it from a source or a calculation method the industry recognizes, and given to the operator on request. A weight taken off a drawing revision that no longer matches the fabricated piece is the most common way a planned lift goes wrong.
  3. 3
    Transcribe the chart, don't paraphrase it. Configuration, longest radius in the lift, rated capacity at that radius, chart page and note numbers. A reviewer has to be able to open the same chart and land on the same row. That is why the reference field exists.
  4. 4
    Walk the site with the checklist open. Ground, what is buried under the set-up area, the work zone boundary, the power line option, the swing radius, the fall zone. Every line names its paragraph, so a line you leave unchecked is a specific unanswered question, not a vague worry.
  5. 5
    Hold the meeting, then sign. For a multiple-crane lift the meeting with everyone involved is part of the requirement (1926.1432(b)(2)), not a courtesy. Print two copies: one for the cab, one for the file.
  6. 6
    Re-plan rather than adjust. A different radius, a heavier piece, a new set-up spot or a wind that came up are all changes to the numbers this plan was signed on. Issue a revision; do not annotate the old one in the cab.

What OSHA requires — and what a "critical lift" actually is

Search 29 CFR 1926 subpart CC for the words "critical lift" and you will not find them. OSHA regulates crane work through duties that apply to every lift — rated capacity, ground conditions, power line clearance, work area control, signals — and it requires a written, qualified-person plan in exactly two situations: when more than one crane supports the load, and when the load is people.

The phrase itself belongs to owners. Federal agency safety manuals define it and demand a plan: the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers manual EM 385-1-1 devotes paragraph 16.C.18 to critical lift plans and lists the eight things one must specify — the exact load weight plus everything that adds to it, the manufacturer's limits across the whole range of the lift, the lift geometry, the people and their qualifications, the rigging plan, the ground and outrigger requirements, the environmental conditions that stop the lift, the coordination and communication arrangements, and for tandem lifts the crane models, line and swing speeds and any equalizer beam. The Department of Energy's DOE-STD-1090 does the same for its sites. ASME B30.5, the consensus standard OSHA references but does not publish, is named here and not reproduced. The field order of this form follows the EM 385-1-1 list because it is public domain and because it is the list most US general contractors have already been audited against.

Where the 75 percent rule really comes from. Many owner programs call a lift critical above 75 percent of rated capacity. The number is in the CFR, but in a narrower place than most people think: 1926.1417(o)(3)(ii) says that when the operator verifies load weight by starting the hoist and watching a load-weighing device or rated capacity indicator rather than using a documented weight, the lift must stop at 75 percent of the maximum rated capacity at the longest radius used until the weight is confirmed under (o)(3)(i). It is a verification trigger, not a federal definition of a critical lift.

What 29 CFR 1926 subpart CC requires of the lift this plan documents
RequirementSource
Where more than one crane will support the load, the operation must be planned by a qualified person, with engineering expertise provided where that person says it is needed; the lift is directed by a lift director who reviews the plan in a meeting with all workers involved1926.1432(a), (b)
Manufacturer procedures for the operational functions of the equipment must be followed; where they do not exist, a qualified person develops the operating procedures and a registered professional engineer signs anything touching capacity1926.1417(a), (b)(2)-(3)
Rated capacities (load charts), operating speeds, hazard warnings and the operator's manual stay in the cab and readable at all times1926.1417(c)(1)
The equipment must not be operated in excess of its rated capacity, and the operator must not be required to do so1926.1417(o)(1)-(2)
Load weight verified from an industry-recognized source or calculation, or by hoisting with a load-weighing device and stopping at 75% of maximum rated capacity at the longest radius until the weight is confirmed1926.1417(o)(3)
Brakes tested by lifting a load of 90% or more of maximum line pull a few inches and applying them1926.1417(s)
No side pull or dragging; no boom contact with obstructions; two full wraps of rope left on the drum; tag or restraint line where load rotation would be hazardous; counterweight per the manufacturer1926.1417(p), (q), (t), (w), (aa)
The competent person adjusts equipment and operations for wind, ice and snow, and decides whether a storm warning means securing the machine1926.1417(h), (n)
Safety devices (level indicator, boom and jib stops, pedal locks, jack check valves, horn) in proper working order before operations begin — no alternative measures allowed1926.1415(a)-(b)
Listed operational aids in proper working order, or the specified temporary alternative measures in place for the allowed repair period1926.1416(b)-(c)
Ground firm, drained and graded so the manufacturer's support and level specifications are met, with supporting materials if needed; the controlling entity provides the preparations and discloses voids, tanks and utilities under the set-up area1926.1402(b), (c)
Work zone identified; if any part of the equipment, load line or load could get within 20 ft of a power line, one of the three options applies, with the encroachment measures of (b); lines presumed energized until the utility confirms otherwise1926.1408(a), (b), (e)
Table A minimum clearance distances: 10 ft up to 50 kV, 15 ft over 50 to 200 kV, 20 ft over 200 to 350 kVTable A to 1926.1408
Swing radius hazard areas marked with control lines, warning lines, railings or barriers; authorized personnel trained; pre-arranged communication before the superstructure rotates toward anyone out of view1926.1424(a)
Where another crane's working radius overlaps, the controlling entity institutes a system to coordinate operations1926.1424(b)
Hoisting routes that minimize exposure to the load; nobody in the fall zone except those hooking, unhooking, guiding or making the initial connection; those employees work under rigging that prevents unintentional displacement, self-closing latch hooks, and a qualified rigger1926.1425(a)-(c)
A signal person is required when the point of operation is not in the operator's full view, when the view in the direction of travel is obstructed, or when the operator or the person handling the load asks for one1926.1419(a)
The signal person's qualification is documented by a third-party qualified evaluator or the employer's own qualified evaluator, and the documentation is available on site1926.1428(a)
One signal person at a time; anyone may give a stop signal and the operator must obey it, whoever gives it1926.1419(h), (j); 1926.1417(y)
The operator has the authority to stop and refuse to handle loads until a qualified person determines that safety has been assured1926.1418
Hoisting personnel: only where no other means is feasible, with a trial lift, a proof test to 125% of the platform's rated capacity, a visual inspection and a pre-lift meeting1926.1431

Assembly and disassembly (1926.1403 through 1926.1406), inspections (1926.1412), operator qualification (1926.1427) and tower cranes (1926.1435) are separate duties with their own paperwork. This plan assumes they are already satisfied.

Frequently asked questions

OSHA does not use the words "critical lift" anywhere in 29 CFR 1926 subpart CC, and it does not define one. Two situations in that subpart do require written planning by a qualified person: a lift where more than one crane supports the load (1926.1432(a)) and hoisting personnel (1926.1431). Everywhere else, the phrase comes from the owner's safety manual — federal agency manuals such as USACE EM 385-1-1 and DOE-STD-1090, and the consensus standard ASME B30.5 — or from your own program. Read the contract you signed, not this page, to find out whether a plan is mandatory for you.

The triggers vary by owner, but the recurring ones are: the load exceeds a set share of the crane's rated capacity for that configuration, more than one crane supports the load, the load is out of the operator's view, personnel are being hoisted, the rigging is non-routine, the load is unusually valuable or hazardous, or the operator or the lift director simply says so. 29 CFR 1926.1417(o)(3)(ii) is worth knowing here: when the operator verifies load weight with a load-weighing device instead of a documented source, hoisting has to stop at 75 percent of the maximum rated capacity at the longest radius used until the weight is confirmed. Many owners borrowed that 75 percent as their critical-lift threshold.

Because reading a load chart is engineering judgment about a specific machine in a specific configuration, and getting it wrong kills people. 1926.1417(c)(1) puts the load chart in the cab for the operator, and 1926.1417(b)(3) requires a registered professional engineer to sign any capacity procedure that the manufacturer did not supply. This form records the numbers the qualified person took off the chart — gross load, rated capacity at radius, the resulting percentage — and prints them for review. It computes nothing.

For a multiple-crane lift, 1926.1432(a)(1) says a qualified person develops the plan, (a)(3) says the employer provides engineering expertise where that person says it is needed, and (b)(1) says the lift is directed by someone who meets both the competent person and qualified person criteria — a lift director — or by a competent person assisted by qualified persons. The plan is then reviewed in a meeting with every worker involved (1926.1432(b)(2)). Owner manuals generally add the operator, the rigger and the site safety representative as signatories.

1926.1408 gives three options once any part of the equipment, load line or load could get within 20 feet of a line: confirm with the utility that it is deenergized and visibly grounded, keep everything 20 feet clear, or determine the voltage and use the Table A minimum approach distance — 10 ft up to 50 kV, 15 ft over 50 to 200 kV, 20 ft over 200 to 350 kV. Options 2 and 3 both drag in the encroachment package of 1926.1408(b): a planning meeting, non-conductive tag lines, an elevated warning line at the clearance distance, and at least one of a proximity alarm, a dedicated spotter, a range-limiting device or an insulating link. All lines are presumed energized until the utility says otherwise (1926.1408(e)).

No. Assembly and disassembly has its own rules and its own A/D director (1926.1403 through 1926.1406), and tower cranes add 1926.1435. This form is for planning a lift with equipment that is already assembled and inspected. If the pick requires a new configuration, that configuration has to be assembled under those separate sections before this plan is filled in.

Use it only as a supplement. Hoisting personnel is the one lift OSHA regulates in detail: 1926.1431 requires that no other means be feasible, adds a trial lift with the unoccupied platform, a proof test to 125 percent of the platform's rated capacity, a visual inspection, and a pre-lift meeting held before each shift and repeated whenever anyone new joins. Work from the section itself, not from a general lift-plan form.

No. The plan is assembled in your browser and the PDF is generated on your device. A draft stays in this browser until you clear it.

Sources & references

Content checked against these sources — last reviewed September 9, 2026.

By — Editorial team of SteelToeTools.com (published by LSEA SAS) Updated v1