Exhibit 31.1

CEO Certification Under Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act

I, Joseph J. Ross, certify that:

1. I have reviewed this quarterly report on Form 10-Q of Federal Signal
Corporation;

2. Based on my  knowledge,  this  quarterly  report  does not contain any untrue
statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact  necessary to make
the statements made, in light of the  circumstances  under which such statements
were made, not  misleading  with respect to the period covered by this quarterly
report;

3.  Based  on  my  knowledge,  the  financial  statements  and  other  financial
information  included in this quarterly  report,  fairly present in all material
respects the financial  condition,  results of operations  and cash flows of the
Registrant as of, and for, the periods presented in this quarterly report;

4.  The  Registrant's  other  certifying  officer  and  I  are  responsible  for
establishing and maintaining  disclosure  controls and procedures (as defined in
Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) for the Registrant and have:

  a)  Designed  such  disclosure   controls  and  procedures,   or  caused  such
      disclosure  controls and procedures to be designed under our  supervision,
      to ensure that material information relating to the Registrant,  including
      its consolidated subsidiaries,  is made known to us by others within those
      entities, particularly during the period in which this quarterly report is
      being prepared;

  b)  Evaluated the  effectiveness of the Registrant's  disclosure  controls and
      procedures and presented in this quarterly  report our  conclusions  about
      the effectiveness of the disclosure controls and procedures, as of the end
      of the period covered by this report based on such evaluation; and

  c)  Disclosed in this report any change in the  Registrant's  internal control
      over financial reporting that occurred during the Registrant's most recent
      fiscal quarter that has materially  affected,  or is reasonably  likely to
      materially  affect,  the  Registrant's  internal  control  over  financial
      reporting; and

5.  The Registrant's other certifying officer and I have disclosed, based on our
most recent  evaluation of internal  control over  financial  reporting,  to the
Registrant's  auditors  and the audit  committee  of the  Registrant's  board of
directors:

  a)  All  significant  deficiencies  and material  weaknesses  in the design or
      operation  of  internal   control  over  financial   reporting  which  are
      reasonably likely to adversely affect the Registrant's  ability to record,
      process, summarize and report financial information; and

  b)  Any fraud,  whether or not  material,  that  involves  management or other
      employees who have a significant role in the Registrant's internal control
      over financial reporting.


Date: August 14, 2003

                                            /s/ Joseph J. Ross
                                            Joseph J. Ross
                                            Chairman and Chief Executive Officer