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Introduction: Simulation-based training has become essential in medical education. Objective: Report our experience of implementing an Objective Structured Assessment of Technical Skills (OSATS) to measure technical skills of year 1 surgical residents of our faculty, assess their preliminary psychometric qualities and collect the opinions of residents on this tool. Methods: An OSATS of four then five and six stations of 10 minutes each was administered successively to 3 cohorts of surgical residents. Each station aimed to achieve basic technical skill. Residents' performances were assessed by an examiner using a pre-established scoring sheet. The means obtained from the stations and their internal consistency (alpha coefficient) were analyzed. Residents' felt needs, the apparent validity and content of the OSATS were assessed using a questionnaire. Results: Seventy-nine residents were assessed over 3 years. Residents' performances were not correlated with ranking at the National Ranking Examination [0.13 (CI95%: −0.11; +0.36)]. Urinary catheter and skin suturing were controlled very early. All residents considered that the technical skills assessed at each station were realistic. For 93% of them, teaching by simulation was considered essential for their training. Conclusion: This initial experience demonstrated that implementation of an OSATS is feasible and has provided important information on the technical skills of surgical residents. The development of this type of tool would strengthen the role of simulation in surgical training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]