26
ACT
APRIL 2015
The year ahead
NCCCO is preparing a slate of activities
and announcements as part of a special
recognition programmarking the twentieth
anniversary of its founding. “Naturally, we
want to be sure that we celebrate this
historicmilestone appropriately,” said
NCCCOCEOBrent, “andwe’ve selected a
number of projects that will tell the story of
NCCCO both for thosewhowere there at the
beginning and for the tens of thousandswho
have benefited from it since.”
NCCCO also intends to use the opportunity
of the special anniversary to help position the
organization for further growth over the next
two decades and beyond through a number of
important announcements during the year.
News about these and other developments
related to its 20thAnniversary Recognition
Program is available at: nccco.org/20Years
where regular updateswill be posted.
NCCCO’s 20th Anniversary Recognition Program
is generously sponsored by:
activities,” says JoelOliva,NCCCO
Director ofOperations andProgram
Development. “Manyof thesehave
been accomplishedbyNCCCO through
strategic allianceswithother
associations such as theCrane
CertificationAssociationofAmerica,
theArticulatingCraneCouncil ofNorth
America, and thePileDrivingContractors
Association,’ he says. “In each case, it is the
industry that has approachedNCCCO to
request aprogram tailored to their specific
needs.”
The evolutionofNCCCO certification
programs to embrace awider range
of craneoperation and related activity
hadoccurred at abreadth andpace
thatwouldhave startled those initial
industryvolunteerswho established the
framework forCCO certificationover
twodecades ago, Brent said. “Asdriven
and enthusiastic as the initial groupof
volunteerswas, they couldneverhave
envisioned that,within littlemore than
adecade, oneprogramwouldgivebirth
to some25 certifications, all of them
designed to improveworkers’ knowledge
and skill, stimulate training andmake the
worksite a saferplace,”Brent added.
Completely independent of
training
WhileNCCCO always has taken the
position that to conduct training itself
would compromise its status as a third-
party, independent body, aprime
element of its originalmissionwas to
stimulate trainingwithin industry.
This, too, has been achieved, notes
Hulse. “We always felt that training
held a vital key to improving crane
safety, and that, ifwedeveloped a fair,
but stringent, certificationprocess, it
would encourage folks to stepup and
seek theprofessional trainingwe
thoughtwas necessary to raise the
knowledge level across the industry,”
he said. Amajor problem at the time,
however, was the scarcityof such
training.
“WhenNCCCOwas first established
you could count thenumber of training
companies ononehand,”Hulse recalls.
At last review,more than120 firmswere
listedonNCCCO’sweb site as providing
courses leading toCCO certification.
“I believewe can say “mission
accomplished” on that aspect too,”
saysHulse.
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