NCCCO Rigger Level I Prep for Alabama Ground Crews

Topics in the prep

• Choosing between wire rope, alloy chain, web and roundslings for the load in front of you
• Vertical, choker and basket hitches and the capacity each one leaves you
• Why a flatter sling angle loads each leg harder
• Shackle, hook, eyebolt and hoist ring basics, including side loading
• Pre-use inspection and when a sling or fitting comes out of service
• Reading tags and working load limits
• Tag line use and staying out from under a suspended load
• Standard hand signals a rigger is expected to know
• Where a qualified rigger fits in OSHA's crane rules

One snapped strap, and why the rigging gets the scrutiny

A useful Alabama example comes from TVA's Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant in Limestone County. In October 2004 the trolley of the overhead crane above the refueling floor fell roughly three feet while it was being lowered during replacement work. The NRC's account traced the failure to the rigging: a strap broke. The crane itself was not the problem.

That is the core lesson of Level I. Cranes are engineered and inspected on a schedule; slings and hardware get picked up off a rack, sometimes by whoever is closest. The Level I exam asks whether you can spot the cut, the heat damage, the missing tag or the wrong hitch before the load leaves the ground.

Where Level I riggers are working around the state

Gulf Coast manufacturing keeps riggers busy. Austal USA in Mobile broke ground in July 2024 on a roughly 192,000-square-foot final assembly building with three bays for steel ships and submarine modules, plus a shiplift. Across the bay at the Mobile Aeroplex at Brookley, Airbus opened another A320 Family final assembly line in October 2025, part of an expansion that adds large hangars and paint shops. Steel erection, equipment setting and fit-out on projects like these all need people who can rig a load properly.

Inland, Alabama's pulp and paper mills run on scheduled outages when pumps, rolls and drives are pulled and reset. Examples include International Paper's mill at Pine Hill in Wilcox County and Georgia-Pacific's Alabama River Cellulose operation at Claiborne. Outage crews rig in tight spaces around hot equipment, often on long shifts, which is exactly when inspection habits slip.

What the certification says about you (and what it doesn't)

Federal OSHA runs workplace safety for private employers in Alabama, because the state has no OSHA State Plan. Under 29 CFR 1926 Subpart CC, a qualified rigger is required for rigging during crane assembly and disassembly (1926.1404) and whenever workers in the fall zone hook, unhook or guide a load or make the first connection to a structure (1926.1425). OSHA leaves the decision on who is qualified to the employer, and it does not demand a certification card.

Many Alabama contractors and plant owners set the bar higher anyway and ask for third-party proof. A Level I card is that proof for routine work. It is not authority to rig a lift where you have to estimate the weight, find an unknown center of gravity or plan a multi-leg pick; that is what Rigger Level II covers. Alabama also has no state crane or rigging license of its own, so the NCCCO credential is what most job specs name. The Alabama requirements guide lays out the rest.

Getting through both NCCCO exams

The written test can be taken by Online Proctored Testing, at a computer test center or at a scheduled test event. The practical is always in person with an accredited examiner and real gear. According to NCCCO's practical exam page, you watch a short video of the required tasks within 24 hours before the test, and the exam has a 60-minute limit; tasks you finish before time runs out still count.

You can pass the two parts in either order, then you have 12 months from the first pass to complete the other. Once certified, the card runs five years.

• Hands-on practice with slings, shackles and knots belongs on the job, before test day
• Study sling angles until the tension math feels routine
• Know the removal-from-service signs for each sling material
• Review hand signals until you can give them without thinking

How you study with us

The course is self-paced exam prep built from short lessons and practice questions that follow the written exam's subject areas. Work through it on a lunch break in the yard or between outage shifts; your progress stays put on whatever device you pick up next. If you run a crew, companies can enroll several workers together. Questions go to an enrollment advisor through the enrollment form.

Our prep does not stand in for the practical exam. Treat it as the book side, and get your hands on real rigging under a qualified person before you test.