THERE has never been a better time to be a crane operator.
In 2003 during the construction slowdown, operators' salaries hovered around $1,500 to $2,000 - if they managed to hold on to a job at all.
With the current construction boom, operators are now earning $4,000 to $5,000 a month including overtime.
"I have even heard of a few who are paid up to $8,000," says Mr David Christodoulou, operations manager of construction company McConnell Dowell, referring to operators who may be doing more specialised jobs like excavation.
The rise in pay is the result of a shortage of operators, caused by the swift growth in sectors like construction, and oil and gas.
Mr Robin Chan, general manager of equipment leasing company Tanglin Corp, points out that just five to seven years ago, crane suppliers and construction companies were selling their own cranes to other countries as they were lying idle here.
Operators left the industry because there were no jobs.
But the demand is now back. In fact, for projects that work around the clock, the number of operators needed on those sites doubles as an extra shift is added.
Crane leasing companies have been on a hiring blitz. Tat Hong, for instance, has recruited more than 30 operators since the start of the year, almost doubling its total strength to around 80.
Still, higher pay alone has not been enough to lure new blood into the business as young people still regard it as a lowly job with few prospects, says Mr Chan.
McConnell Dowell, which is working on the integrated resort site of Resorts World Sentosa, knows this only too well.
The 10 crane operators with the company are in their 40s or older, mirroring the trend in an industry where it is almost unheard of for crane operators to be below the age of30, whether they are working for crane leasing companies or construction firms.
Instead, most are old hands like Mr Mohamed Ali, 54, who has been with McConnell Dowell since 1982. Starting out as a tug boat operator at the company, he switched to crane operating five years later for better pay. His salary was raised from $1,200 to $1,600.
Today, the father of six takes home $3,700 clocking 12 hours a day.
The cheery operator says he likes the job as it keeps him busy and outdoors.
His crane operation team includes riggers, a signalman and a lifting supervisor.
The supervisor oversees the lifting procedure, deciding on the load and how to move it after a discussion with Mr Mohamed.
The signalman is in charge of communicating with the crane operator using hand signals as it can be too noisy for them to communicate verbally. The riggers guide the crane into position and hook the load onto it.
The operator himself sits in the crane, controlling its levers to manoeuvre the load into position. Inside the crane, a digital panel shows how much load the crane is carrying and can carry, because its maximum capacity changes at different positions.
It is also the operator's duty to check that the crane is in good condition every day before work begins.
The system is based a lot on trust, says Mr Mohamed. If a crane operator mishandles a load, causing it to sway or even drop, the lives of his team members on the ground are put at risk. He says he has thankfully kept a clean record so far.
Indeed, safety on the job has improved, says Mr Peter Hu, 60, who works as a crane operator for foundation piling company Bachy Soletanche.
The father of two has been in this line for 36 years and says that during the early years, one didn't even need to have a licence to operate a crane.
"There were no courses - I learnt it through trial and error on the job, lifting light loads at first," he recalls.
"Of course I was nervous the first time I handled this big machine. But I pressed on. If I had any doubts, I consulted my foreman."
It was only about 10 years later that he got the required certification.
Beware of operator poaching
TODAY, potential crane operators here first undergo training at the BCA Academy. They must be above 18 and, for some categories, trainees must have a Class 5 driving licence.
Courses last between four and 13 days during which they are taught lifting operation, safety requirements and related regulations.
Once they have completed their training, they can apply for a certificate of registration issued by the Occupational Safety and Health Division of the Ministry of Manpower. The licence allows them to work as a crane operator but it needs to be renewed every two years.
To ease the manpower shortage, the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) has been working with the Workforce Development Agency and NTUC to help in the sourcing, placing and training of new operators.
BCA says the number of crane operators trained at the BCA Academy went from 154 last year to 365 by September this year.
The rule of having to hire only Singaporeans - introduced to protect jobs during the economic downturn - has also been relaxed. Now, for every new Singaporean crane operator hired, two foreign operators can be hired at the same time.
Hiring more people aside, contractors say keeping their own staff has also been a challenge. Some have even heard of operators being poached just outside construction sites.
Mr Hu, however, is adamant that he won't jump ship for the money. He joined Bachy Soletanche in 1994 and is grateful to the company for keeping him during the lean years after the Asian financial crisis. When there were no jobs here, he was sent to work on projects in Indonesia and Malaysia.
The most important qualities of a good crane driver are good hand-eye coordination and confidence, he says.
As for himself, he will keep working as a crane operator as long as he can. "I think I'm still making a good living," he says with a smile.
