Too Many Hats

Welcome to Materials Evaluation’s quarterly column on ethics in nondestructive testing (NDT). This month’s guest contributor, Rick Price of Radiography Industry Consulting LLC, examines an emerging trend in the profession: many companies have effectively redefined the Level III role to include business development and production management duties, while still expecting that person to carry a full load of technical NDT inspection work. Price argues that this layering of responsibilities is pushing pressures on NDT personnel to unsustainable levels—and may be contributing to the decline in the number of NDT Level IIIs.

When the Technical Expert Becomes the Manager

Like many people in the NDT industry, when I have a chance to talk to another NDT professional, we usually wind up comparing notes and swapping stories. Recently, I’ve heard several stories that all point to an uncomfortable conclusion: somewhere along the way, we’ve begun treating Level III certification as a management credential instead of what it was intended to be.

The entire architecture of NDT qualification is designed to promote seasoned field technicians into positions of greater technical responsibility as they accumulate experience and knowledge. A Level III is supposed to be the person who has done the work, solved difficult inspection problems, made the hard calls, and earned the confidence of the technicians who rely on them. Increasingly, this isn’t what I’m seeing.

I believe a big driver of this issue is that many companies have combined two very different jobs into one position. The Level III becomes a department manager, responsible for every administrative function that comes with managing a department. At the same time, they’re expected to remain the technical authority responsible for the qualification and certification of NDT personnel, for writing procedures and interpretations, and for ensuring consistent inspection results. Those are two different jobs that should be held by two different people.

What’s interesting is that neither ASNT SNT-TC-1A, ASNT CP-189, nor NAS 410 describes a Level III as a department manager. The documents (standards) do not assign responsibility for staffing, budgets, throughput, or business development. They define a technical authority—someone responsible for the technical integrity of the inspection program, the qualification of personnel, and the interpretation and approval of technical work. When companies combine those responsibilities into a single position, they’re making a business decision, not following an industry requirement. Whether or not it’s successful organizationally, it changes the role the standards envisioned.

The second issue concerns the educational “fast track” permitted under both SNT-TC-1A and NAS 410. Both guidelines reduce the additional experience required for Level III candidates with qualifying STEM degrees. What they do not eliminate is the requirement to first become a qualified Level II and then spend time actually working at that level. The company’s interpretation may envision a person who operates equipment, performs daily system checks, maintains logs, processes inspections, writes reports, and solves real production problems before becoming the technical authority. Too often, that isn’t what happens.

Instead, people are hired to fill an organizational chart and provide the required credentials to sign off on procedures. Their days are spent in meetings and cubicles while someone quietly signs off on the experience documentation necessary for Level III certification. Too often, they never develop the practical foundation that the standards intended. That disconnect creates another problem: credibility.

One veteran Level III recently described watching his replacement refuse to investigate an inspection issue firsthand, saying, “I’m not going downstairs to witness the process, so you need to just write a report for how you developed your techniques.” That one statement perfectly illustrates the divide. When technicians believe their Level III only knows the job through reports and metrics rather than through firsthand experience, trust erodes. Respect is earned by standing shoulder to shoulder with the people doing the work. Ironically, the opposite problem exists as well.

I recently spoke with a highly capable multimethod ASNT Level III who left a major aerospace company because they refused to certify him internally. He even offered to forgo the accompanying pay increase. Despite there being no requirement in the industry standards, the company required a bachelor’s degree for Level III certification. Meanwhile, they continued relying on his experience and technical expertise to support the very people who had been hired to supervise him.

I’ve seen another company take the problem a step further. Lacking an experienced Digital Radiography (DR) Level III, they simply began the process of certifying a second Level III from another DR method, with little or no field experience. The company did not do this because the second Level III had developed the necessary expertise, but because production demanded someone with the signature authority.

None of this is an argument against engineers or degrees. The ethical question isn’t whether someone has a degree, but whether they’ve done the work. The purpose of the Level III certification is to identify the technical authority whose judgment is rooted in experience.

Repercussions of This Trend

Redefining the role of the Level III can lead to treating experience as a box to check rather than as the very foundation of technical competence. If we’re hiring managers first and viewing field experience as a burden rather than an asset, we undermine the confidence that technicians, customers, and regulators place in the certification itself.

Editor’s note: This article comes at a time when Level IIIs are under pressure due to the well-documented attrition in the NDT workforce, and, in some cases, from internal management decisions. We now ask you, the reader: do you have opinions on the ethical questions raised here? Have you had experiences you would like to share?

We would like to hear from the NDT community. Please leave a comment on our LinkedIn page.

Author

Rick Price is the Principal Consultant at Radiography Industry Consulting LLC, where he helps organizations implement and optimize industrial digital radiography (DR) and computed tomography (CT) programs. An ASNT NDT Level III in radiographic testing and IRRSP-certified radiation safety professional, he has spent more than a decade in NDT, specializing in advanced digital inspection systems, technical training, and helping companies bridge the gap between sophisticated imaging technology and the people needed to use it successfully.