August 2019—After a thorough onsite audit of its certification procedures and psychometric protocols, the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) has granted NCCCO continued accreditation for its more than 20 crane and crane-related personnel certifications. ANSI’s audit of NCCCO occurs annually as a requirement of its accreditation to the ISO/IEC 17024 international standard for organizations that certify personnel, with an on-site inspection by ANSI auditors every other year.
Although NCCCO’s current accreditation runs through 2022, ANSI requires a comprehensive report documenting program performance and internal procedures on an annual basis, and grants continued accreditation only if all requirements are met. ANSI requirements are rigorous and designed to give assurance to those who depend on certification programs that the tests are fair, sound, and valid assessments of the knowledge and skills they are intended to measure. As a result, ANSI accreditation demonstrates that NCCCO’s nationally recognized and administered programs have been developed—and are maintained—to the highest standards of test integrity.
“Candidates and employers alike can continue to be assured that, with ANSI’s independent verification of NCCCO’s policies and procedures, CCO certification meets the highest professional standards of examination development and administration,” said NCCCO President Kerry Hulse. “Each NCCCO certification card is backed by the ANSI guarantee of program excellence unequaled in this industry.”
Accredited for 20+ Years
CCO certification programs have been accredited since 1998. NCCCO received its first accreditation from ANSI in 2007, since when additional accreditations have been progressively awarded.
- Mobile, Tower and Overhead Cranes (2007)
- CCO Signalperson (2010)
- Rigger Level I (2010)
- Rigger Level II (2011)
- Articulating Crane Operator (2011)
- Crane Inspector (2012)
- Digger Derrick Operator (2013)
- Service Truck Crane Operator (2015)
- Lift Director (2015)
ANSI Commendations
Over the past 12 years, ANSI has awarded NCCCO numerous commendations for its efforts to provide and maintain fair, valid, and effective personnel certifications:
- Quality Assurance: Record-keeping system for client feedback
- Candidate Communications: video presentation of practical exam tasks
- Recertificant Outreach: notification of certification expiration
- Intellectual Property Protection: monitoring of CCO logo use violations
- Practical Exam Design: selection of tasks, objectivity and clarity of scoring criteria
- Practical Exam Monitoring: inter-rater reliability calibration process
- Stakeholder Input: certificant and employer recognition programs
- Data Systems Security: protection against unauthorized access of candidate and employer data
Who’s Accredited?
OSHA now requires all certification organizations providing certification to crane operators to be accredited. There are several certification bodies but only four that are currently accredited.
Accredited by ANSI:
- NCCCO – National Commission for the Certification of Crane Operators
- NCCER – (formerly the National Center for Construction Education and Research)
- EICA – Electrical Industry Certifications Association
Accredited by NCCA:
- OECP – Operating Engineers Certification Program
Note that not all certification bodies are accredited for all the programs they offer. Employers can verify for themselves which programs are included in the accreditation scope, and which bodies are accredited, by checking directly with the appropriate accrediting agency.