Opening the Door while Raising the Bar

by 2009-2010 ASNT President Joel W. Whitaker*

IN 2008 THE ASNT BOARD OF DIRECTORS approved the funding of a survey that, when completed, gathered the insights of 2043 responding members. The survey asked questions regarding ASNT’s programs, products and services. The second part of the survey allowed respondents to voice their concerns on a number of different issues facing the NDT industry, in the hope that these comments would generate discussion throughout the Society’s sections, councils and committees.

The voiced concerns of the surveyed membership included: the lack of adequately trained NDT workers in the existing and future workforce; the need to recruit, nurture and retain a new generation of committed NDT personnel; the aging population of Level IIIs; and the shortfall of available replacements for retiring workers. Training replacement NDT practitioners is often difficult. Even if enough people can be recruited, can we integrate them into the industry fast enough to allow them to gain experience under existing guidelines? Some employers resist investing in trainee personnel. The Level II is the backbone of the industry and is the person most requested by customers to address testing needs. Trainees, Level Is and Level IIIs tend to be considered additional overhead in any realistic business plan.

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There needs to be a way to quickly integrate new personnel into the field.

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SNT-TC-1A is an employer based program that enables companies to develop their own workforce through education, experience and training. Companies can bring in trainees and get them certified to Level II in surface examination methods in a short period of time, thus affording some customer invoice opportunities and eventually preparing them for Level II volumetric certifications. In the interim, the road can be long and the pay low for the individuals until they finally earn enough Level II volumetric certifications to be both viable to the company and earning enough pay. While SNT-TC-1A has served the industry well, there needs to be a way to quickly integrate new personnel into the field and at the same time raise the bar in increasing the probability of detection.

Although ACCP has some unique features, it has the same basic structure as the employer based programs. The ASNT Standards Development Committee is working to develop draft international standard ISO/DIS 11774, which is a performance based qualification standard. Performance demonstration establishes a specific examination system to achieve a desirable level of performance. The standard is used to increase the probability of detection through pre-established criteria for acceptable performance based on obtaining desired test results on qualification specimens using accepted procedures and equipment. Second party (employer based) qualification and approval, or third party qualification and certification followed by on-the-job training, may not necessarily provide the required degree of confidence for safety-critical NDT; this standard provides criteria to prepare individuals for performance based qualification examinations in order to meet the extra assurance needed. What is unique is that experience may be obtained with the use of virtual training systems, by examining representative specimens with relevant and irrelevant discontinuities that may be located in a laboratory, or by analyzing recorded data.

The standard does not rely on rigid documentation of training, experience and education in the method. It allows personnel to use an accumulation of training, written examinations, complete performance based qualification examinations, qualified procedures and rigorous testing (ten flawed grading units minimum).

This proposed ISO/DIS 11774 document is currently a Committee Draft being balloted to be moved to a Draft International Standard. As ASNT moves forward in solving the problems that we face, it will be essential for the membership to be more accepting of new and innovative programs that preserve safety and move personnel quickly into the NDT world to meet the growing demand.