Training &If you have looked at rigger jobs around Corpus Christi, Ingleside or Portland, you have seen both names: NCCER and NCCCO. They sound alike, they both put the word "rigger" on a card, and plenty of people use them as if they were the same thing. They are not. Which one you need depends almost entirely on who is hiring you and whose site you will be working on.
What an NCCER rigger
credential is
NCCER is the National Center for Construction Education and Research. It is a craft credentialing organization: it publishes the curriculum most industrial contractors train from, and it runs assessments in dozens of crafts, rigging included. An NCCER rigger credential is earned by passing a written assessment and a hands-on performance verification in front of an NCCER practical examiner. The result is recorded on the NCCER Registry, the national database contractors and site owners use to look up a worker's craft credentials by card number.
NCCER credentials are used heavily by industrial contractors and by Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) member companies. In refinery, petrochemical and shipyard work along the Gulf Coast, "NCCER rigger" is often the credential a contractor's safety department expects to see before a hand gets a gate pass. Prime Lift teaches the NCCER Advanced Rigger and Signal Person courses and proctors the assessments in the same building. See the Advanced Rigger course for the schedule and price.
What an NCCCO rigger
certification is
NCCCO is the National Commission for the Certification of Crane Operators. It is best known for crane operator certification, and it also offers CCO Rigger Level I, Rigger Level II and Signalperson certifications. CCO certifications are accredited under ANSI standards, which is one reason some owners and general contractors write "CCO certified" into their site requirements. Like NCCER, the CCO rigger exams have a written and a practical component.
You will run into CCO requirements most often where the employer or the site owner specifies it by name: certain construction general contractors, some crane and rigging companies, and owners whose lift plans call for CCO-certified personnel. Prime Lift does not offer CCO testing. If a job posting says CCO, you will need to find a CCO test site.
What OSHA actually requires
This is where most of the confusion starts. OSHA's cranes and derricks standard for construction, 29 CFR 1926 Subpart CC (1926.1400 and following), requires a qualified rigger for rigging work during assembly and disassembly and whenever workers are in the fall zone hooking, unhooking or guiding a load. It also requires a qualified signal person. OSHA defines "qualified" in terms of knowledge, training and demonstrated ability. It does not name NCCER, NCCCO or any other organization, and it does not require a card from either one.
In practice, a credential is how your employer proves you are qualified. Which credential satisfies them is their call, and it is usually driven by their customers' site requirements.
How to decide
- Ask the employer. Before you spend a dime, ask the safety manager or the recruiter exactly which credential the job requires. Get the name, not just "rigger certified."
- Check the site owner. If you will be working turnarounds at a specific plant, ask what that owner requires of contractor riggers. Many Coastal Bend industrial sites verify NCCER credentials on the Registry.
- Look at the crew around you. If everyone on the crew carries NCCER cards, that tells you what the company's safety program is built on.
- Check the expiration. NCCER rigger credentials are valid for five years. If yours is coming due, recertify before it lapses.
Where Prime Lift fits
Prime Lift Rigging Academy is an NCCER Accredited Training and Assessment Center in Portland, TX. We teach the Advanced Rigger course in day, night and 3-day weekend formats, teach a standalone Signal Person course, and proctor NCCER assessments in 36 crafts for $150 each. If NCCER is what your employer asks for, you can train and test out here without going anywhere else. If they ask for CCO, we will tell you so up front rather than sell you the wrong card.
