Who certifies the certifiers?

The CCAA was founded almost 30 years ago, with a mission to promote crane safety and improve the crane certification profession. The NCCCO is an independent non-profit organisation set up for the purpose of developing and administering certification programmes for personnel working with and around cranes.

Under the new agreement, announced at the 2010 Crane and Rigging Conference in Houston, Texas, at the end of May, the two organisations will develop a national certification programme for crane certifiers, aimed at demonstrating the competence of staff involved in certifying or inspecting cranes.

The NCCCO has already established one crane inspectors' programme, in Washington state, where new state regulations this year required that crane certifiers pass an examination.

NCCCO executive director Graham Brent said, "We will be able to build on the specific experiences of that project in creating this new national programme for crane certifiers. With NCCCO certification programs now firmly established for crane operators, riggers, and signalpersons, it makes perfect sense to bring into the certification mix the person who inspects the cranes as being safe to be operated in the first place."

CCAA president Ed Shapiro said, "We are delighted to be joining NCCCO in creating a certification program for crane inspectors based on professionally developed assessment tools that will effectively test the knowledge required to certify cranes as meeting prevailing national standards."

NCCCO will also administer the final certification programme, which will meet or exceed all current and proposed state and federal requirements for crane operator qualifications including OSHA's proposed rule on cranes and derricks.

A call for volunteers has been posted on the NCCCO website for qualified experts to sign up to participate in the task force drawing up the programme.