Twenty-five questions on crane signaling in construction, with every answer traced to its paragraph of 29 CFR 1926 subpart CC — when a signal person has to be provided, the Standard Method for hand signals and the narrow case for non-standard ones, the radio and voice rules, what happens when communication is lost, and the qualification requirements of 1926.1428. Read this as a study aid before your employer's assessment, not as the assessment. Under 1926.1428 a signal person is qualified by a third party qualified evaluator or by the employer's own qualified evaluator, and that assessment includes an oral or written test and a practical test. No online quiz can do any part of it, and this one does not try.
25 questions about 20 min
Question 1 of 25
Your score
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Not OSHA-authorized training. SteelToeTools is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or authorized by OSHA or the U.S. Department of Labor. This free educational content does not satisfy any OSHA or other regulatory training requirement, and no card, certificate, or credential is issued. Only OSHA-authorized trainers can deliver OSHA Outreach Training (10-Hour and 30-Hour) and issue DOL cards. Always follow your employer's training program and applicable federal, state, and local requirements.
Frequently asked questions
There is no official OSHA signal person test. OSHA writes 29 CFR 1926.1428 and leaves the assessment to a third party qualified evaluator or to the employer's own qualified evaluator, who has to include an oral or written test and a practical test. This free practice test is not affiliated with OSHA or the U.S. Department of Labor, it is graded by nobody, and it forms no part of any assessment.
No. No card, credential or documentation of any kind is issued for taking this test, and it cannot be shown to an employer or an inspector as evidence of anything. Under 1926.1428(a)(3) the employer must keep the documentation from whichever option it used, on site, for as long as the signal person is employed — and that documentation comes from the evaluator who assessed you in person, never from a website.
No. The word in 1926.1428 is qualified, not certified, and the standard gives two routes: documentation from a third party qualified evaluator, or an assessment by the employer's own qualified evaluator. The second one is explicitly not portable — 1926.1428(a)(2) says other employers are not permitted to use it. So a new employer either accepts third-party documentation or assesses you itself.
The five requirements of 1926.1428(c): knowing and understanding the type of signals used, including the Standard Method if hand signals are used; competence in applying them; a basic understanding of equipment operation and limitations, including the crane dynamics of swinging and stopping loads and boom deflection under load; knowing the relevant requirements of 1926.1419 through 1926.1422 and 1926.1428; and demonstrating all of that through an oral or written test and through a practical test.
From Appendix A to Subpart CC of Part 1926, which is the Standard Method OSHA published in the Code of Federal Regulations and is public domain. The consensus standard often quoted for crane signals, ASME B30.5, is copyrighted and is not used or reproduced anywhere on this page.
Construction. 29 CFR 1926 subpart CC governs cranes and derricks in construction, and it is where the signal person requirements live. General industry overhead and gantry cranes fall under 1910.179, which handles signals differently; nothing here is asked about that section.
No. 1926.1430 puts training on the employer, 1926.1428 puts the assessment on a qualified evaluator, and neither can be met by reading a page. Use this to find the gaps in what you know before someone tests you on a jobsite.
Because signaling is a two-person duty and half the paragraphs land on the operator. The operator has to obey a stop signal from anyone (1926.1417(y)), has to stop when communication is lost (1926.1419(f)), and has the authority to refuse a load until a qualified person says it is safe (1926.1418). A signal person who does not know the operator's duties cannot do the job.