The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) Personnel Certification Accreditation Committee (PCAC) has announced that the scope of the National Commission for the Certification of Crane Operators (NCCCO) ANSI accreditation has been expanded to include the CCO Crane Inspector certification program. This means that the CCO Crane Inspector certification program is now accredited by ANSI to the ISO/IEC 17024 International Standard for organizations that certify personnel.
Developed in conjunction with the Crane Certification Association of America and originally launched in November 2011, the CCO Crane Inspector certification program has quickly filled a need identified by industry and increasingly required by employers to ensure the safety of cranes. Inspection of cranes used in construction has recently received renewed attention after several high-profile equipment failures in New York City, as well as new guidelines and requirements for crane inspections contained in OSHA’s new crane rule (29 CFR 1926 Subpart CC).
The scope extension of NCCCO’s ANSI accreditation to include the CCO Crane Inspector program came after careful analysis of test data and careful audits of NCCCO’s management systems and psychometric procedures, as well as detailed scrutiny of its test development and administrative processes.
“ANSI and ISO provide the most rigorous accreditations available, so candidates and employers alike can now be assured that, with ANSI’s independent verification of this new program, NCCCO’s Crane Inspector certification meets the highest professional standards of examination development and administration,” said NCCCO Commission Chairman Ellis Vliet. “As with NCCCO’s other ANSI-accredited certification programs, this certification helps to ‘close the loop’ regarding crane safety on the jobsite,” Vliet added.
“Achieving ANSI accreditation is a major undertaking,” said ANSI Senior Director, Personnel Credentialing Programs, Roy A. Swift, PhD, “and NCCCO can be very proud of this accomplishment. No other accreditation process demands the degree of psychometric or management disclosure that ANSI requires for accreditation under ISO 17024.”
“Accreditation of certifying bodies is a provision of OSHA’s new rule and is increasingly being required by state regulators in their attempts to ensure quality of the certifications issued,” noted NCCCO Executive Director, Graham Brent. “A central part of NCCCO’s goal since its inception 17 years ago has been to establish national testing programs that are fair to all candidates while at the same time are both valid and reliable assessments of essential knowledge and skills,” Brent said. “ANSI’s accreditation of this new certification program is clear testimony that that goal is being achieved.”
