Certification of NDT personnel in Belarus was developed under the influence of common international tendencies on assessment of the level of competence that were adapted to the existed in the country the system for NDT specialists attestation in different branches of industry.
The first step was made in this direction when the European standard EN 473 was adopted as national standard of Belarus.
Adoption of EN 45013 as national standard was obvious necessary and it was made.
While in majority of countries assessment of NDT personnel competence is realized within independent systems of NDT personnel certification, in Belarus certification of personnel is included in National system of certification as a kind of activities that ensures organizational and methodical basis for certification of personnel of any profession. This approach is the main national aspect of the personnel certification which is directed to realization of one of the general functions of the system of certification - to assure safety of people and protection of environment.
The National system of certification of Belarus stipulates mandatory and voluntary certification. In applying to personnel the certification is mandatory for specialists in NDT realizing works and surveillance of critical objects. Voluntary certification of NDT personnel is realized relative to the employers that want to guarantee the quality of testing through confirmation of the qualification level of their employees.
The voluntary certification is highly demanded by the companies creating their quality systems in compliance with ISO standards 9000 Series. In this case the compulsory principle is manifested as the requirement of the element 4.18 of ISO 9001:94 or the elements 6.2 of ISO 9001 and ISO 9002:2000 versions that consider certification of the level of competence as the main aspect of "the management of resources".
NDT in Belarus is realized both by workers and engineers i.e. by individuals with very different background education.
The engineer seeking certification has to take the course for his qualification improvement and the worker has to graduate the course of vocational training on relevant NDT method. The vocational training is considered as the educational process for an individual until he/she achieves the required level of qualification sufficient for carry out definite professional functions.
The programmes of training for certification must take into account the basic education of candidates and without violating requirements to their qualification must be enough supple for ensure necessary level of differentiation.
Such an approach demands from educational institutions to agree their programmes for educational background in NDT with Certification body of NDT personnel and provides for the young specialists the opportunity to seek for certification in definite NDT methods when he/she will gain industrial experience in compliance with relevant standard (ISO 9712 or EN 473).
The Committee on education of Belorussian Association on NDT coordinates the works of training centers recognized by Certification body on harmonization of their programmes of training and supervises their realization.
