CCO’s Overhead Crane Inspector certification is a written-only credential: experienced candidates are approved by CCO on a documented experience record before sitting the Crane Inspector Core written examination and the Overhead Crane Inspector Specialty written examination, covering six inspection domains against ASME B30.2 — the standard for the bridge, trolley, and runway systems over industrial floors. There is no practical examination. PassProfessor’s Overhead Crane Inspector program is in the works for those written examinations.
This program is part of the expanding PassProfessor catalog — join the notify list and we’ll email you when enrollment opens.
The overhead crane inspector works indoors, over production: bridge cranes in steel mills, machine shops, warehouses, and power plants, machines that may be older than the inspectors examining them and that lift over people and processes every shift. The craft differs from field inspection in kind — the runway is part of the machine, the electrical systems are building systems, and the governing frame pairs ASME B30.2 with OSHA’s general industry crane rule rather than the construction standard. The inspector’s verdicts keep a plant running or idle a bay, and both errors are expensive in opposite directions.
PassProfessor’s Overhead Crane Inspector (OCI) program is in the works as part of the expanding PassProfessor catalog, organised on the written examination’s published domains so preparation follows the examination’s own architecture. This page states the credential’s verified facts — its examinations, its fees, its windows, and the component this program does not cover — exactly as the issuing body publishes them.
Which credential is this?
This page covers one credential only: the Overhead Crane Inspector (OCI), issued by CCO (NCCCO). It is not a neighbouring designation, and the distinctions matter, because this family of credentials is deliberately granular — each designation certifies a defined machine, role, or function, and an employer or regulator asking for one is not asking for another. The facts table below is the credential’s identity card; the companion guide walks the route to it in full. Candidates should confirm, before any preparation begins, that this is the designation their employer, their site, or their licence actually requires — in this suite, the costliest preparation error is preparing thoroughly for the adjacent credential.
What will the program cover?
Practice in the examination’s own shape. The written examination for this credential is multiple-choice, and the program in the works practises in that shape throughout: timed sets at the examination’s pace, single-best-answer items, and section sets matched to the published outline’s structure. Candidates should arrive having already made their pacing mistakes in practice.
Written from the primary sources. The program is written from the candidate handbook and published outlines CCO (NCCCO) issues — the same documents the examination is built from. Where a handbook states a figure, the program teaches to the figure; where the published record is silent, the program says so rather than filling the gap.
The whole candidate, not only the test-taker. Around the item practice, the program carries the certification or licensing route as the issuing body publishes it — eligibility, the examinations, and the steps around them — because a written examination is a means to a credential, and candidates plan better when the destination is mapped.
Preparation only, with the boundary kept clear. PassProfessor is an independent preparation provider, not affiliated with CCO (NCCCO). No completion of this program is reported to the issuing body, and nothing in the program substitutes for any step in the certification or licensing process.
The written-only boundary, stated plainly
This credential is examined in writing only. There is no hands-on sitting for PassProfessor to exclude — and none is implied anywhere in this program. The preparation in the works therefore covers the credential’s whole examination requirement: the written examinations named in the facts table above.
What are the verified facts of the credential?
| Fact of record | Detail |
|---|---|
| Designation | Overhead Crane Inspector — designation code OCI, in CCO’s Crane Inspector program (developed with the Crane Certification Association of America) |
| Certifying body | CCO — the National Commission for the Certification of Crane Operators (NCCCO) |
| Examination structure | Written examinations only — there is no practical examination in the Crane Inspector program. Certification requires the Crane Inspector Core written examination and the Overhead Crane Inspector Specialty written examination |
| Experience gate — read this first | CCO requires documented crane-related experience — the program was built for professionals with years of experience as inspectors, operators, mechanics or technicians, or shop foremen — submitted on CCO’s experience forms with supporting documentation, and CCO individually approves each candidate before permitting examination |
| Examination fees | Third-party fees paid to CCO under its published fee schedule: Core written $210; each inspector specialty written $80 |
| Governing standards | ASME B30.2 (overhead and gantry cranes), with OSHA’s overhead crane rules at 29 CFR 1910.179 in general industry |
| Validity | Certification is valid for five years; recertification is by the applicable written examination(s) |
How does preparation map to the examination outline?
The published outline for this written examination organises the sitting as follows. Preparation in the program in the works is organised on the same domains.
| Examination domain | Weight / character |
|---|---|
| Pre-Inspection Survey | Written domain |
| Records Review | Written domain |
| Visual Inspection | Written domain |
| Operational Testing | Written domain |
| Load Testing and Load Charts | Written domain |
| Post-Inspection | Written domain |
Pre-Inspection Survey (Written domain). Every inspection begins before a wrench is lifted: establishing the overhead crane’s identity, configuration, service history, and duty, agreeing the inspection’s scope and access, and reviewing the site conditions that constrain the work. For overhead cranes the survey extends beyond the crane to the building system it runs on: runway rails and girders, end stops, electrification, and the structure’s duty classification history — because bridge and runway degrade together and are inspected together.
Records Review (Written domain). Inspectors audit paper as rigorously as steel: prior inspection reports, load test records, repair and modification history, manufacturer bulletins, and the documentation chain OSHA and ASME B30.2 require. Items test spotting the record that does not match the machine in front of the inspector — the undocumented modification, the lapsed test, the chart that belongs to another configuration.
Visual Inspection (Written domain). The core craft domain: structural members, welds, wire rope and terminations, hooks and sheaves, brakes, hydraulics, electrical systems, safety devices, and placarding, each judged against published removal and acceptance criteria. Overhead visual work concentrates on bridge girders and end trucks, trolley and hoist machinery, wire rope and drum spooling, hook and latch condition, festoon and conductor systems, and the corrosion and wear patterns of machines that may have run for decades in one bay.
Operational Testing (Written domain). A static crane can hide a failed brake; this domain covers function testing under controlled conditions — motions through their ranges, limit and safety device verification, brake holding tests, and rated-capacity indicator checks — and the judgment to stop a test that is itself becoming unsafe. Operational testing covers bridge, trolley, and hoist motions through full travel, limit switch verification at both ends of every axis, brake testing, pendant and radio control function, and warning device checks — on a machine whose entire travel envelope is the test course.
Load Testing and Load Charts (Written domain). Proof load testing: when it is required — after assembly, modification, repair, or periodically — how test loads are determined and applied, and how the inspector verifies the chart in the cab is the chart for the machine as configured. Overhead load testing verifies rated load handling after installation, modification, or repair, and chart work becomes nameplate work: rated load marking on bridge and hoist, capacity verification against the manufacturer’s data for the installed configuration.
Post-Inspection (Written domain). The inspection is not finished when the inspector leaves the machine: deficiency classification, out-of-service determinations, the written report’s required content, notification duties, re-inspection after correction, and the record retention the next inspector — and the regulator — will rely on.
Who earns this credential?
Candidates are plant crane service technicians, millwright and maintenance inspectors, third-party inspection firms’ overhead specialists, and facility engineers who carry inspection responsibility for installed crane fleets. For many plants the credential answers an audit finding — documented, certified inspection — which gives the candidate pool a compliance deadline the field-inspector pools rarely have.
What is the route to the credential?
CCO’s route runs: document crane-related experience on CCO’s experience forms with supporting evidence, receive CCO’s approval, then pass the Crane Inspector Core written examination and the Overhead Crane Inspector Specialty written examination. There is no practical examination. Certification runs five years, renewed by the applicable written examinations. This program prepares candidates for the written examinations — the whole examination requirement of this credential.
What makes this examination demanding?
The demand is systems breadth inside one building: structure, machinery, electrics, and controls, judged against B30.2 criteria, on equipment whose configurations — single girder, double girder, top running, underhung — change the inspection materially. Inspectors from the mobile world meet unfamiliar machinery; plant maintenance veterans meet unfamiliar formality — criteria, classifications, and documentation standards applied exactly as published. The written examinations grade the standard’s version of the craft.
An honest note on format
PassProfessor practice works in the format this examination uses — multiple-choice, timed at the examination’s pace. The issuing body does not release its examination items, and no provider can offer them. Practice results are a study gauge, not a prediction of a certification or licensing outcome, and the examination decision and the credential decision both belong to bodies other than PassProfessor.
How should you use this page while the program is in the works?
- Join the notify list today. Enrollment is not open yet, and the notify list is how you hear the moment it is. While you wait, read the exam guide — it walks the route, the outline domain by domain, the sitting itself, and a preparation plan in full.
- Confirm the designation before the syllabus. Read the ‘Which credential is this?’ section above twice if your background is in a neighbouring machine or role; in this suite, designations are atomic, and the wrong one is a wasted season.
- Plan the whole route, not only the sitting. The steps around the written examination — companion examinations, practical sittings this program does not cover, approval gates, and completion windows — have their own lead times, and candidates who start them during preparation do not lose a season to sequencing after a pass.
- Study from the primary documents alongside any preparation. The candidate handbook or licensing guidance and the published outline are the examination’s sources, and both are published for candidates.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Overhead Crane Inspector (OCI) credential? It is the credential this page covers: Overhead Crane Inspector — designation code OCI, in CCO’s Crane Inspector program (developed with the Crane Certification Association of America). The overhead crane inspector works indoors, over production: bridge cranes in steel mills, machine shops, warehouses, and power plants, machines that may be older than the inspectors examining them and that lift over people and processes every shift. The issuing body is CCO (NCCCO).
Who issues the overhead crane inspector credential? CCO (NCCCO). That body writes or administers the examination, sets the requirements, and makes the certification or licensing decision. PassProfessor prepares candidates for the written examination and has no part in the decision.
What written examination must candidates pass? Written examinations only — there is no practical examination in the Crane Inspector program. Certification requires the Crane Inspector Core written examination and the Overhead Crane Inspector Specialty written examination
Is there a practical or hands-on examination? There is no practical examination in this credential; its examination requirement is written only, as the facts table states.
What is the passing standard? CCO sets the passing standard for its examinations by criterion-referenced standard setting and reports each candidate’s performance by domain. This page states no percentage figure for the standard, because CCO does not publish it as a simple percentage for this designation — inventing one would misstate the record.
What does the examination cost? Third-party fees paid to CCO under its published fee schedule: Core written $210; each inspector specialty written $80 Those are third-party fees owed to the issuing body — not PassProfessor charges. This page prints no PassProfessor price.
How long does the credential last? Certification is valid for five years; recertification is by the applicable written examination(s)
What will the PassProfessor program cover? The written examination named above — its published domains, its format, and its pacing — together with the certification or licensing route around it as the issuing body publishes it. Where the credential has a practical component, that component is not covered, and the program says so wherever the credential is described.
When will the PassProfessor program open? The program is in the works and enrollment is not open yet. Join the notify list on this page and you will be emailed when enrollment opens; the companion exam guide is available to read now for planning your preparation.
Is PassProfessor affiliated with CCO (NCCCO)? No. PassProfessor is an independent preparation provider and is not affiliated with CCO (NCCCO). Nothing in the program is reported to the issuing body, and completing preparation is not a step in the certification or licensing process.