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Inspection of Certified NDT Personnel V. Levkovitch, S. Zinovieva Contact

Certification body of personnel shall meet the requirements of EN 45013. One provision of this European norm stipulates that certification body shall perform supervision of certified personnel periodically in compliance with its procedure.
The certification body shall develop the schedule of supervision of certified NDT personnel and confirm its functioning to the accreditation body.
In reality it is not so easy to carry out inspection of certified specialists because it is connected with charges both of labor hours and money. An employer is seeking certification of its NDT specialists as a rule for the reasons of competitive capacity of his enterprise but he is not interested in supervision of its staff by a third party. The certification body in its turn can't realize inspection of the holders of its certificates without payment. So this technical and methodical question becomes the matter of contract relations.
Inspection of certified personnel is an integral part of the quality system of the certification body. EN 45013 doesn't specify the procedure of supervision of certified specialists but the certification body has to establish real procedure for fulfill this element of the quality system. This real procedure can be developed only taking into account the interconnections between a number of parties: industries - Society on NDT - Certification body of NDT personnel - accredited NDT laboratories and inspection bodies - Accreditation body of NDT laboratories. When the National Society on NDT has influence in the industries the responsible persons of plants and laboratories involved in NDT will provide fulfillment of the requirements of the supervision procedure.
The Certification body of personnel in Belarus has established the inspection procedure of certified personnel and realizes it in practice with effect. A contract between the Certification body and any employer for certification of its NDT specialists have a provision that ensures the opportunity to realize supervision of NDT personnel.
The plan for inspection is drawn up for six months. It is formed on the basis of the Register of certified persons.
Thanks to the close business contact with the Body of NDT Laboratories Accreditation our Certification body realizes inspection of NDT personnel.
The procedure of certified personnel inspection allows three forms:

1) supervision by means of check-list.
The Certification Body mails the check-list to the employer of the certified specialist to be inspected. The check-list contains a questionnaire the answers to which give the information about the specialist's skill in relevant NDT method, continuity of his experience. The check-list has to be filled in by the specialist and confirmed by the signature of an authorized person responsible for NDT - as a rule the manager of the laboratory - and has to be returned to the Certification Body.

2) supervision of individuals on site.
This form of inspection is realized as a rule by the auditors of the Body of NDT Laboratories Accreditation. According to the procedure of Accreditation Body the inspection of the accredited laboratory has to be performed every year and qualification of personnel is certainly the main point of interest of every inspection visit. Within the inspection the auditors examine the skill of certified specialists on site, documented protocols of testing realized by them during immediate past year. Relevant check-lists are filled in and presented to the Certification Body of Personnel.

3) supervision of the team of NDT specialists.
The Certification Body of personnel organizes inspection of the team of NDT specialists of the laboratory on site involving its examiners. This form of inspection is used at the laboratory (plant) where the team of certified NDT specialists is rather large. Of course this inspection must be well planned and organized. The Certification Body involves as examiners the III level specialists working in different relevant industries. During this inspection the theoretical knowledge of specialists is examined using questionnaires and practical skill is observed on site.


If such kind of inspection is implemented twice during the period of certification validity the recertification would realize without exams.
The check-lists of the inspection are examined by competent experts of the Certification Body and relevant statements are made and filled in.
There is a back link with the employers of certified NDT personnel: the statement of expert team on the results of supervision is presented to relevant responsible person of the employer. Negative statement of the expert team is a cause for suspend or withdraw the certification. In this case more detailed inspection of the specialist is realized on site.
On the basis of negative statement of the expert team on the results of NDT specialist supervision the Certification body takes the decision to withdraw the certification.
Information about the withdrawal of certificates is published in Bulletin of Belorussian Association on NDT and Technical Diagnostics.
In compliance with the procedure of inspection the certificates must be given back to the Certification body but in practice it is difficult to realize and certificates are retires as a rule in the process of the laboratory inspection.
It is practically impossible to carry out supervision of every specialist within the period of the certification validity (5 years) first of all because of small staff of Certification body and secondly the procedure of supervision is rather voluminous and for involve external experts it must be paid accordingly.

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