History of the CCAA


Soon after the passage of the Occupation Safety and Health Act of 1970, Cal OSHA promulgated regulations that required all cranes in California exceeding three (3) tons capacity to be inspected, tested and certified to comply with the crane regulations created at the same time. During the next few years, many crane people applied for authorization to do this work.  At about the same time the California legislature passed a labor law that stated that an inspector could not certify a crane in which he had any financial interest thereby creating a law that required third party certification.

 

In 1984, Cal OSHA Senior Engineer Lloyd Albright, who was the Crane Unit chief, called meetings of all certifiers and urge them to organize an association which would establish standards of conduct for their profession and be a source of consultation with the Crane Unit.  A steering committee was elected by and from the certifiers to establish a crane certification association.  A year later, 1985, the California Crane Certification Association (CCCA) was founded and incorporated under the rules of the California Department of State.  Meetings were subsequently held twice yearly at various locations in California.

 

The CCCA grew steadily and in 1987 with the assistance of Fed OSHA Office of Maritime Enforcement, federal certifiers were invited to a meeting at Disneyland in which it was decided to extend the scope of CCCA to the national level.  In 1988, the name of CCCA was changed to the Crane Certification Association of America (CCAA), the corporate documents were changed accordingly, and national officers were elected. In 1990 the Association retained a professional association executive to handle the administrative tasks.

 

During the next several years the Association held meetings in various U.S. cities including Washington, D.C., Boston, Memphis, Mobile, Baltimore, Orlando, and Las Vegas, to name a few.  In an effort to welcome various elements of the crane industry, experts representing OEMs, crane and boom repair organizations, and component manufacturers were invited to make technical presentations to the Association and to become associate members if they wished.  Many accepted the invitation and several became faithful members. 

 

One of the objectives of the Association is to increase the knowledge and capabilities of crane surveyors.  As years passed our members benefitted from the efforts to accomplished this objective, but, as they grew older, the members realized that they had acquired a great deal of knowledge and experience that would not be passed on to the next generation unless something was done.  In response to that concern, the designation of Certified Crane Surveyor was created and a program of training and testing was developed starting in 2005.

 

Many members earned this designation but very few new practitioners participated.  In order to get widespread exposure to the crane industry, members of the Association urged the National Commission for the Certification of Crane Operators (NCCCO) to offer the designation and test the applicants.  Association members volunteered to help develop the tests with the idea that CCCO would test the applicants and CCAA would offer training.

 

The designation is now offered nationwide by NCCCO and CCAA continues to develop a training program that will prepare applicants for the test.  The Association continues to offer its own CCS designation as a stepping stone to taking the NCCCO test.