Some facts about NDT training syllabuses
19/09/2013
John Moody, Technical Support Engineer at BINDT, discusses how and why an NDT training syllabus is developed…From ISO 9712:2012 (Non-destructive testing – Qualification and certification of NDT personnel) section 5.2.2: ‘The certification body: b) shall publish specifications for training courses that include the syllabuses which embody the content of recognised documents, eg ISO/TR 25107 (Technical Report, Non-destructive Testing – Guidelines for NDT Training Syllabuses) or equivalent’. For PCN certification, which is BS EN ISO 9712:2012 compliant, there has to be a published syllabus for all the methods and sectors that are within the PCN scope.
With employer-based certification, the syllabus is typically given in the company’s written practice. From a syllabus, the end-user can determine what the certified personnel have been taught and examined on, the trainer knows what the student needs to be trained in, the examiner knows the level at which to pitch the questions and what the practical needs to cover and the candidate is aware of the contents of the training and examination.
The syllabus may be determined by the responsible Level III, who generates and updates the company’s written practice for employer-based certification. With PCN, the syllabus comes from the Z1 document and/or in individual appendices. For the more traditional methods such as MT and PT, the Z1 syllabus is used, which is based on ISO/TR 25107, but other methods such as UT phased array and digital radiography have specific syllabuses attached to their appendix documentation. In both cases, working groups were set up to generate appropriate content to the syllabuses. The working groups are populated by experts from industry, trainers, other interested parties and BINDT staff.
The current ISO/TR 25107 is in the process of being reviewed by the ISO standards committee and it is to be hoped that the revised document will follow the format of ISO 9712 by defining what is General Theory, Specific Theory and Practical at Levels 1 and 2 and similar for Level 3 the parts A, B, C, D, E and F. It is also to be hoped that the practical marking schemes along with both the Instruction Writing and Procedure Writing guidelines as given in ISO 9712 are utilised.
Currently, industry is asking for more specific certification. An example of this is the oil & gas sector, which has challenges with the inspection of in-service degradation processes, and a working group has been generating a training and certification package for this, including the syllabus. Another example is the inspection of composite materials such as carbon fibre structures, which are being used more in a range of industries including aerospace applications. There are changes to the standards, equipment and applications which can have an impact, so syllabuses will continue to be expanded and developed along with industry needs.
