NCCCO: Texas leads signalperson, rigger surge

CCO Signalperson and Rigger Level I/Rigger Level II programs are experiencing a surge in activity with year-to-date figures showing up to a doubling of examinations being administered over the same period. 

Through August, 00,000 CCO Signalperson exams (written, practical, and recertification) and nearly 5,000 Rigger exams have been administered.  

These numbers reflect the strongest testing volume for the Signalperson program since 2011, the year that OSHA rules first established specific criteria for signalperson qualification for many construction tasks.  

Texas, which over the past year has fast-tracked essential infrastructure work to repair damage from Hurricane Harvey, has led the surge in demand. In particular, the petrochemical industry has undertaken massive reconstruction projects, with some multi-national oil companies requiring all signalpersons and riggers to be certified by January 2019. 

Additionally, in another trend not isolated to Texas, commercial truck drivers are increasingly seeking rigger and signalperson certifications. The combination of a commercial driver’s license (CDL) and CCO certification allows drivers to more actively, and safely, participate in the delivery of materials at construction sites, employers report. 

A model collaboration 

The means by which multiple stakeholders from industry associations, employers, unions, crane manufacturers, government agencies, standards organizations and training providers can come together to create and maintain performance standards and assessments with the goal

of enhancing safety and reducing risk in the crane industry came under the spotlight at the 2018 International Vocational Education and Training Association (IVETA) conference hosted by the South African College Principals Organization in Cape Town, South Africa, August 13-16.

NCCCO’s Director of Certification, Bob Mahlman, who serves as President of IVETA, made a presentation entitled A Model Collaboration between Industry, Government, and Training Providers in the Crane Industry to more than 400 delegates representing 25 countries. A major subtheme of the conference focused on collaborations and partnerships between government, industry, and training providers.

The IVETA event was preceded by three weeks by a conference with a similar theme in Lusaka, Zambia. At the invitation of the Standards Alliance, an initiative of ANSI and USAID, NCCCO CEO, Graham Brent met with more than 60 regulators from various sectors of industry in the country to discuss best practices in regulatory design and development (shown right). Drawing on Brent’s 25 years of experience with OSHA’s crane rule initiative, the delegates navigated the regulatory process using actual examples drawn from Zambian industry including construction, material handling and agriculture.

“I’m fairly sure the founding fathers of NCCCO, more than two decades ago, would not have anticipated a situation where their organization might assist governments and industry more than 9,000 miles away in the development of effective regulatory pathways and consensus standards,” said Brent. “But our ability to make a meaningful contribution to regulatory debates internationally is yet further evidence of the diversity of experience to which NCCCO has been exposed while creating its successful national certification programs.