BINDT Practitioner Award winner for 2019 announced
02/01/2020
Alex Jackson of Sheffield Forgemasters Engineering Ltd has been named as the winner of BINDT’s 2019 Practitioner Award.Alex is NDT Supervisor of the forgings area for Sheffield Forgemasters Engineering and is responsible for workload organisation, scrutinising the results of NDT examinations performed by technicians and reporting these results to customers. He has also been responsible for the mentoring of Sheffield Forgemasters Engineering’s NDT apprentices Lewis Perry and James Thompson.
The environment for NDT examinations is invariably time critical and highly pressured but Alex always finds the time to fully explain to the trainees the process requirements for inspections, always briefs the apprentices on the procedural requirement for each forging and also shows them how the various items of NDT equipment should be used.
Alex has taken time out to give personalised one-to-one tuition, beyond that which the company Level 3 has given, with regards to the theory requisites of each NDT method. He has also taken it upon himself to broaden the apprentices’ NDT knowledge by deploying them to the foundry department in order to obtain familiarity with cast products and the different NDT techniques employed within that environment.
On winning the award, Alex said: “I am proud of what Lewis and James have achieved in their first two years at Sheffield Forgemasters. From day one they have both recognised how critical NDT is and have always given 100% concentration and effort during on-the-job training and theory sessions. Their willingness to learn has made mentoring them enjoyable and I look forward to helping them gain more vital experience during their apprenticeships and afterwards.”Paul Phipps, NDT Level 3 in the Forgings Division NDT Department, commented: “Alex is always prepared to take time out to listen to the individual queries of the apprentices regarding the NDT method they are using and address any concerns they may have, which has led to a relaxed but professional working atmosphere.
“The outcome of this effort has been that both apprentices have progressed rapidly in the field of NDT and are progressing well in their chosen careers, to such an extent that they are regarded as valuable members of the NDT department.”
The BINDT Practitioner Award recognises outstanding achievement in the learning, sharing or execution of NDT or CM practice by a BINDT member. Any member at Affiliate grade or higher showing outstanding performance in NDT duties and demonstrating qualities such as a consistently high standard of performance in a specific job (service, loyalty, ethics and client satisfaction), the potential to develop depth or breadth of NDT competence, altruism in acting as a mentor or leader of junior or less experienced colleagues or associates and contribution to a specific project that yielded technical and/or financial benefits for the employer or organisation is eligible to be nominated.
The winner is awarded £250 cash and a voucher to the value of £300 towards training at a BINDT ATO or AQB.
Joe Heigold, Chair of BINDT’s Practitioner Committee, said: “The Practitioner Committee was pleased to receive and consider a detailed commendation from close colleagues of Alex who, like every member of the Committee, were impressed with the progress of the apprentices he was mentoring. Furthermore, it was difficult to envisage a more worthy recipient of this year’s Practitioner Award.”
Any member or Associate member of BINDT who participates in or contributes to the execution of NDT in the workplace may nominate a suitable candidate for consideration by the Practitioner Committee. If you know of anyone who could be considered for this award in 2020 (and beyond) please contact Karen Cambridge (karen.cambridge@bindt.org).
