NDT Ethics: Selecting NDT Level IIIs Based on Education Rather than Hands-On Experience

Editor’s note: This NDT Ethics case study is published in conjunction with the October 2023 issue of Materials Evaluation. Published quarterly, each NDT Ethics column presents a case study and invites readers to respond here on ASNT Pulse with their comments. Readers are also invited to email column editor Toni Bailey with their own ethical scenarios, which may be featured in future columns.

Welcome to Materials Evaluation’s quarterly column on NDT ethics! This month, we discuss ethical situations regarding underqualified NDT Level IIIs who are selected based on academic degrees rather than actual demonstrated ability to use the nondestructive testing (NDT) method.

As an outside agency Level III examiner for several industries (primarily aerospace), I am often called upon to review the credentials of candidates to determine if they meet certain criteria. Lately, I have seen a trend toward companies selecting NDT Level III candidates based on their engineering background and education, rather than their actual hands-on experience.

—Toni Bailey, NDT Ethics Editor

Scenario 1: Level III Candidate Lacks Hands-on Experience and Selected Based on Education

Recently, I provided classroom training for a group of NDT candidates for their initial Level II qualification for certification. After teaching the course, the company’s management asked me to provide Level III qualification examinations to a candidate in the class who had no documented hands-on experience.

This candidate only had laboratory experience for the method. They had never worked in a position comparable to a Level II for any method and had never achieved an initial NDT Level II certification.

The primary reason the person was selected was they held a PhD in chemistry. When I refused to qualify and examine the candidate, the quality manager and facility manager became infuriated and tried to pressure me several times from many angles to comply with their request. My answer to them was to quote their own written practice for NDT qualification and certification, which stated, “All Level III candidates shall fully qualify and certify to Level II prior to eligibility for Level III. The candidate shall remain a Level II for one, two, or four years, based on their education, prior to eligibility for Level III qualification and certification.”

Qualification includes the following at a minimum: formal classroom training, documented and on-the-job training experience hours signed by a certified Level II or III in the method, and evidence of passing Level II General, Specific, Practical, and vision examinations. My answer—quoting their own written practice that each manager had signed—demonstrated that I was right to refuse their request.

Scenario 2: Level III Engineer Abandons His Responsible Level III Position before a Major Audit

A high-production aircraft engine shop had a Responsible Level III on staff with 30 years’ tenure who suffered a heart attack followed by a stroke, so he retired in 2015. The next Responsible Level III who took over suffered a brain aneurism and retired in 2021 due to job-related stress. A new Level II was promoted to Level III and was selected in 2021 by management, primarily based on his position in management and engineering. He had not performed the NDT method in more than five years.

The new Level III was sent to classroom training as a refresher along with a few weeks of hands-on training, but no training was provided on his new Level III role handling aerospace supplier audits and how to implement NAS 410 (National Aerospace Standard) qualification and certification for four NDT methods, as well as managing more than 50 NDT personnel. With all of the intricate and detailed aerospace engine prime requirements, expectations to perform, and meeting deadlines and financial goals, this Level III engineer was overwhelmed and became physically sick from the stress. He asked for help, but none was provided due to the budget. Therefore, after only two years in the role and one week before a major aerospace audit, he abandoned the Responsible Level III position and was hospitalized due to exhaustion and a breakdown in mental health.

In 2023, another candidate was selected for the company, based primarily on his education rather than actual hands-on experience, and already things are not going well. After only one month in the position, the new candidate is overwhelmed by the significant role and had no idea that the level of responsibility was so intense and stressful. Level II candidates who had the hands-on experience and actual capability to do the job were overlooked and not selected because they were key to production needs.

Author’s note on health effects due to stress: Work-related health effects are becoming more common these days, and it is something that our NDT community should pay close attention to and take very seriously. We should all be very careful to ensure we don’t become a statistic as we attempt to satisfy the needs of corporations.

Share Your Thoughts

We now ask you, the reader, to think about the presented scenarios and determine if each scenario is ethical or not.

Are these practices just as unethical as Level III by appointment, also known as “grandfathering”? Are companies choosing these managerial Level IIIs as an effort to manipulate them into decisions that favor manufacturing and production needs over the needs of the quality department?

We would like to hear from the NDT community. Please comment below.

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Author

Antionette (Toni) Bailey, ASNT NDT and NAS 410 Level III certified in MT, PT, RT, UT, ET, and IRRSP, TB3 NDT Consulting LLC; toni@tb3ndt.com.