Crane Inspection & Certification Bureau (CICB) Online Assessement Testing is an internet-based multiple-choice testing application evaluates potential or existing employees’ knowledge of OSHA and ANSI/ASME standards and regulations along with best practices for safe operations. By testing current employees, managers can highlight the strengths and weaknesses of the individuals on a team. A training environment can be created to address weaknesses, thus reducing the chances of a costly accident due to unsafe equipment operations and procedures.

CICB was the first independent agency to be accredited by the U.S. Department of Labor to provide third-party inspection and certification of equipment for the crane and lifting industry.

The objective of these assessments is to provide organizations with an easy to use tool to measure the competency of existing and potential riggers and operators; it is not intended to take the place of the training and certification process.

CICB has created a database of questions divided into 17 categories that cover everything from load charts to standards, communications, responsibilities, planning, rigging, and safety. The questions developed for the purpose of this assessment test were developed keeping in mind the level of education, background and experience of the majority of operators and riggers that are in today’s lifting industry. The complexity of the questions is kept at a level that any operator or rigger should be able to answer without the need for any additional documentation

A set number of questions are assigned to each category for each assessment test. The correct number of questions is selected for each category and presented in a random order ten questions at a time. When the last set of 10 questions is presented the test taker has the option to review all of their answers and will be notified of any questions that they might have forgotten to answer before submitting their test to be scored.

Currently CICB has two assessment tests available. The first test, Mobile Crane Operator with Rigging Assessment (MCORA), has 100 questions from all of the 17 categories. The second test, Rigger Assessment (RA), contains 70 questions from the 12 categories, which have questions that apply to riggers.

The method of randomization assures that as each person who takes an assessment test will get a test of the same difficulty, covering the same areas of knowledge, without getting the same questions or in the same order. With the test presented in this random order, it makes it much more complicated for a person to cheat the test and give misleading information about the level of understanding that they have. For additional security, the test is designed to be administered in a proctored environment at a facility so the employer knows the recorded name of the person that took the test is the one who actually took the test. Another highly beneficial feature of this program is the ability to pick up and continue a test without losing information saved thus far in the event of a power failure, internet failure, or other computer failure that would cause a connection loss to the Internet. Some of the best crane and lifting instructors in the industry have helped create the assessment. Regardless of the amount of experience that an operator or rigger has, the assessment testing can give an accurate picture of the level of knowledge of each individual.