Workers' Comp Rates for Sign Installation, Maintenance, Repair, Removal or Replacement NOC - Away From Shop & Drivers (Class Code 9554)
Last verified: 2026-06-15 · Reviewed against NCCI and state rating-bureau filings — how we verify
Description
Covers away-from-shop sign installation, maintenance, repair, removal, or replacement NOC, including billboard sign work; shop operations are separately rated.
Common Businesses
Hazard Group
F
Filed Figures Published
1
state · class percentile 90
Filed Figures for Class Code 9554 in the States That Publish Them
Copied from each state's own regulator or rating bureau filing, per $100 of payroll. A loss cost is what the filing calls it — your insurer multiplies it by its own loss cost multiplier; a rate is a manual rate. States not listed publish no per-class figure this site has transcribed.
Judged only from filed tables, code 9554 has a class percentile of 90 (0 = the cheapest class, 100 = the most expensive) across the 1 filing that list it.
How States Rank for Class Code 9554
Cost index 1.00 = the median of the 47 rated states. It is a relative position from this site’s model, not a price, and it does not vary by class code; a state’s filed figure, where it publishes one, is shown beside it. North Dakota, Ohio, Washington and Wyoming are not included. Each is a monopolistic state fund that sets premium on its own basis rather than on an NCCI class-code rate per $100 of payroll, so there is no comparable figure to average or rank.
| State | Cost index | Filed figure | Filing effective |
|---|---|---|---|
| Indiana | 0.73 | — | 2026-01-01 |
| Texas | 0.74 | — | 2026-07-01 |
| Virginia | 0.78 | — | 2026-04-01 |
| Utah | 0.79 | — | 2026-02-01 |
| Arkansas | 0.82 | — | 2026-07-01 |
| Colorado | 0.83 | — | 2026-01-01 |
| South Dakota | 0.83 | — | 2026-07-01 |
| Arizona | 0.86 | — | 2026-01-01 |
| Nebraska | 0.88 | — | 2026-02-01 |
| North Carolina | 0.88 | — | 2026-04-01 |
| Idaho | 0.89 | — | 2026-01-01 |
| Tennessee | 0.89 | — | 2026-10-01 |
| Kansas | 0.90 | — | 2026-01-01 |
| Mississippi | 0.91 | — | 2026-03-01 |
| New Mexico | 0.92 | — | 2026-01-01 |
| Kentucky | 0.93 | — | 2026-01-01 |
| South Carolina | 0.93 | — | 2026-04-01 |
| Iowa | 0.95 | — | 2026-01-01 |
| Missouri | 0.96 | — | 2026-01-01 |
| Nevada | 0.97 | — | 2026-03-01 |
| Georgia | 0.98 | — | 2026-03-01 |
| Maryland | 0.98 | — | 2026-01-01 |
| Oregon | 0.99 | — | 2026-01-01 |
| West Virginia | 1.00 | — | 2026-01-01 |
| Alabama | 1.01 | — | 2026-03-01 |
| Minnesota | 1.01 | — | 2026-01-01 |
| New Hampshire | 1.01 | — | 2026-01-01 |
| Wisconsin | 1.01 | $5.800 rate | 2026-10-01 |
| Delaware | 1.03 | — | 2025-12-01 |
| Maine | 1.03 | — | 2025-04-01 |
| Rhode Island | 1.04 | — | 2026-08-01 |
| Michigan | 1.05 | — | 2026-01-01 |
| Vermont | 1.05 | — | 2026-04-01 |
| New York | 1.06 | — | 2026-10-01 |
| Florida | 1.07 | — | 2026-01-01 |
| Montana | 1.07 | — | 2026-07-01 |
| District of Columbia | 1.10 | — | 2026-01-01 |
| Massachusetts | 1.10 | — | 2024-07-01 |
| Oklahoma | 1.10 | — | 2026-01-01 |
| Illinois | 1.12 | — | 2026-01-01 |
| Connecticut | 1.14 | — | 2026-01-01 |
| Louisiana | 1.17 | — | 2026-05-01 |
| Hawaii | 1.20 | — | 2026-01-01 |
| Pennsylvania | 1.20 | — | 2026-04-01 |
| New Jersey | 1.21 | — | 2026-01-01 |
| Alaska | 1.33 | — | 2026-01-01 |
| California | 1.34 | — | 2026-09-01 |
A filed rate — or a loss cost times your insurer's multiplier — is step 1 of the eight-step rating-bureau premium algorithm. See what your carrier applies after that, or work out premium for code 9554 with your own rate, payroll and experience mod.
Related Class Codes
About Class Code 9554: Scope, Inclusions, and Common Misclassifications
NCCI Class Code 9554 — officially phrased "Sign Installation, Maintenance, Repair, Removal, or Replacement NOC — Away From Shop & Drivers" — is the workers' compensation classification for the field crews that put signs up, service them, and take them down at the customer's location rather than in a shop. It covers the installation, maintenance, repair, removal, and replacement of billboards, poster panels, and other signs erected on buildings or in open spaces such as fields adjacent to highways, and it sweeps in the rental, sale, and installation of traffic barricades and traffic-control devices. Drivers are written into the phraseology, so the crew's road time to and from each job stays in the same code. Because the work is performed at height on billboards and structures and frequently alongside live roadways, 9554 carries a heavier hazard rating than shop-only sign work.
The "Away From Shop" qualifier is the defining boundary of 9554. It is the on-site, in-the-field half of the sign trade: erecting, hanging, servicing, and dismantling the finished sign. Fabricating the sign itself — sheet-metal and frame work, welding, electrical assembly, and finishing on the employer's premises — is a separate shop manufacturing exposure (NCCI separated the older combined sign code 9552 into away-from-shop installation/repair 9554 and in-shop sign manufacturing 3064), and painting or lettering a sign directly on the face of a building or structure is its own classification (NCCI 9553) rather than 9554. This page shows filed 9554 figures for the states that publish them and ranks the other states with a relative cost index, so a sign-installation, billboard, or outdoor-advertising contractor can see where each state sits before requesting a quote; neither the filed figures nor the index is a binding quote.
What's Included Under Class Code 9554
9554 contemplates the away-from-shop sign contractor end to end. NCCI's scope describes the installation, maintenance, and repair of billboard signs, including the erection of billboards, signs, and poster panels on buildings or in open spaces such as fields adjacent to highways. The same code takes in operations that rent, sell, and install traffic barricades and traffic-control devices — the temporary signage and barriers set out around roadwork and events. The field workforce that does this — the installers and erectors who climb, mount, and bolt the sign in place, the service crews who maintain and repair it, the crews that remove or replace it, and the drivers who carry equipment and signs between the shop and the job site — all report under 9554.
Because installing and servicing outdoor signs means working at height on billboards, building faces, and poles, and often doing it next to moving traffic, the rate is built around fall exposure, struck-by and roadway hazards, and material handling. As with every class, 9554 is assigned from the operations actually performed during the policy year, so a sign company's field installation and driver payroll reports here rather than being folded into a lighter office or shop code.
When the Work Is NOT Coded 9554
The first boundary is shop versus field. 9554 is explicitly "Away From Shop" — it is the installation and on-site service of the sign, not its manufacture. In-shop fabrication of signs — sheet-metal and frame work, welding, electrical assembly of illuminated signs, and finishing the sign on the premises — is a separate manufacturing exposure (NCCI carries it as 3064 after separating the old 9552 sign code), and a firm that both builds signs in a shop and installs them in the field can carry both exposures. Painting or lettering applied directly to the outside of a building or structure is NCCI 9553, not 9554, and ordinary exterior building painting is painting NOC 5474 — neither of which is the sign-installation code.
9554 also excludes advertising display installation, which NCCI specifically carves out of the class. And although 9554 includes the rental and installation of traffic barricades and control devices, it is not road or highway construction itself: grading, paving, and building the roadway are street/road construction 5506, a distinct heavy-construction exposure, while 9554 is limited to setting out and servicing the signs and barricades. Standard-exception staff split out where the state bureau allows it — office dispatchers and billing clerks are 8810 Clerical Office Employees and traveling estimators or sales reps are 8742 Outside Sales Personnel. Independent-bureau states put their own stamp on the sign codes too — New York's NYCIRB uses 9552 for away-from-shop sign erection and 9553 for sign painting on structures, Michigan (CAOM) carries 9558, and California (WCIRB), Pennsylvania (PCRB), Delaware (DCRB), New Jersey (NJCRIB), and North Carolina (NCRB) maintain their own systems — so a sign contractor in those states should confirm the assignment with the state bureau rather than relying on the national 9554 number.
Sources
- GeneralLiabilityInsure — NCCI Class Code 9554 Sign Installation, Maintenance, Repair, Removal or Replacement NOC — Away From Shop & Drivers (official scope: billboard install/maintenance/repair, erection of signs and poster panels on buildings and in open spaces adjacent to highways, traffic barricades and control devices, advertising-display exclusion) (retrieved 2026-06-15)
- Class Codes — Workers Compensation Code 9554 (away-from-shop sign installation/maintenance/repair/removal/replacement NOC and drivers; related state sign codes 9552/9553/9556/9558) (retrieved 2026-06-15)
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is workers' comp class code 9554?
- Class code 9554 is NCCI's "Sign Installation, Maintenance, Repair, Removal, or Replacement NOC — Away From Shop & Drivers," the classification for crews that install, service, and remove billboards and other signs at the customer's location, along with the rental and installation of traffic barricades and traffic-control devices. It covers the field installers, service crews, and drivers, and sits in a higher hazard tier because the work is done at height and along roadways. The shop fabrication of the sign is rated separately.
- How much is workers' comp insurance for class code 9554?
- It depends on the state, and only some states publish a per-class figure. For class code 9554, the filed figures per $100 of payroll are: Wisconsin $5.800 (rate, WCRB, effective 2026-10-01). A loss cost is not a rate — your insurer multiplies it by its own loss cost multiplier — and every figure is before your experience modification. For other states this site shows a relative cost index, not a dollar figure. North Dakota, Ohio, Washington and Wyoming are not included. Each is a monopolistic state fund that sets premium on its own basis rather than on an NCCI class-code rate per $100 of payroll, so there is no comparable figure to average or rank.
- What businesses use workers' comp class code 9554?
- Class code 9554 typically applies to Sign installation contractors, Billboard sign installers, Traffic barricade installers, Outdoor sign repair companies.
- What's the difference between 9554 and sign manufacturing?
- 9554 is the "Away From Shop" code — the on-site installation, maintenance, repair, and removal of the sign. Building the sign in a shop (sheet-metal and frame fabrication, welding, electrical assembly, finishing) is a separate manufacturing exposure; NCCI separated the older combined sign code 9552 into away-from-shop installation/repair (9554) and in-shop sign manufacturing (3064). A company that both fabricates signs in a shop and installs them in the field can carry both classifications.
- Does class code 9554 include billboards and traffic barricades?
- Yes. NCCI's scope for 9554 covers the installation, maintenance, and repair of billboard signs — including erecting billboards, signs, and poster panels on buildings or in open spaces such as fields adjacent to highways — and also the rental, sale, and installation of traffic barricades and traffic-control devices. What it excludes is advertising display installation, which is separately classified.
- Is sign painting on a building coded 9554?
- No. Painting or lettering a sign directly on the outside of a building or structure is its own NCCI classification (9553), not the away-from-shop installation code 9554, and ordinary exterior building painting is [painting NOC 5474](/class-codes/painting-interior-or-exterior-5474/). 9554 is the erecting, mounting, servicing, and removal of signs and billboards, plus the drivers who move equipment between the shop and the job.
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