ANSI Reaccredits NCCCO Crane Operator Certification Programs

FAIRFAX, Va., Dec. 3, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) has reaffirmed the accreditation of seven personnel certification programs developed and administered by the National Commission for the Certification of Crane Operators (NCCCO), including all four of its CCO crane operator certification programs.

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NCCCO also received two commendations from ANSI for procedural excellence following an exhaustive assessment of five years of NCCCO program activity. It found no nonconformities during its weeklong review.

NCCCO earned its initial ANSI accreditation in 2007 for the CCO Mobile, Tower, and Overhead Crane Operator certification programs. To maintain its accreditation to the ISO/IEC 17024 International Standard for organizations that certify personnel, however, NCCCO has been required to submit annually to ANSI a comprehensive report documenting program performance and internal procedures. Every second year an on-site audit is required. In the years since the first accreditation was awarded, the CCO Signalperson (2010), Rigger Level I (2010), Rigger Level II (2011), and Articulating Crane Operator (2011) programs have been progressively added to NCCCO's range of personnel certification programs, and each successfully accredited. NCCCO is currently in the application process for accreditation of its Crane Inspector and Digger Derrick Operator certification programs.

In the first of the two commendations awarded, ANSI recognized NCCCO for its sophisticated proactive surveillance process that solicits input from certificants and employers about the value and impact of CCO certification on certificants, employers, the crane industry, and public safety. NCCCO uses this information to recognize certified operators and employers that embrace CCO certification. The assessors noted that NCCCO also proactively seeks input from industry and public sources concerning any issues regarding the performance or conduct of any operators it has certified, and acts on that information through its comprehensive complaint review process.

The ANSI assessors also commended NCCCO on its efforts to ensure the inter-rater reliability (IRR) of its Practical Examiners. NCCCO's Practical Examiner training includes a rigorous review process in which all examiners observe the same tasks and provide their ratings. These ratings are then compared to the examiner training and IRR measures are calculated. "These are efforts that go beyond what we normally see in examiner training," the ANSI assessors noted in their report.

In accordance with its operating procedures, ANSI mobilized a new team of assessors for this comprehensive audit. The assessors were highly complimentary of the quality of the application they received from NCCCO and IAI, and were very impressed by the staff support team they interviewed.

"It's a great tribute to the quality that permeates all aspects of NCCCO activities that the assessors' commendations reflect excellence in elements as diverse as psychometric integrity, marketing and outreach, and the investigative process we apply to matters of ethics and discipline," noted NCCCO Executive Director, Graham Brent. "This kind of third-party recognition of all our individual and collective provides employees and operators alike with the confidence that CCO certification is truly effective at improving safety on construction sites nationwide, and thereby protecting the construction workforce and the general public from the risk of accidents that might lead to death or serious injury."

The National Commission for the Certification of Crane Operators (NCCCO) is an independent, non-profit organization established in 1995 by industry to develop and administer a nationwide program for the certification of crane operators and related personnel. Since then, NCCCO has administered over 625,000 nationally accredited written and practical examinations and issued more than 130,000 certifications in all 50 states.

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SOURCE National Commission for the Certification of Crane Operators