Behaviours within the NDT apprenticeship standard

This month, I promised to give you an explanation about ‘behaviours’..

Behaviours are important when working within the NDT sector, as I will explain later. When the Apprenticeship Trailblazer programme first started, the government’s Department for Business, Innovation & Skills (BIS) issued a guidance document that stipulated the mandatory and optional requirements when developing an apprenticeship standard; behaviours were in the optional section. Since then, because most apprenticeship developers were including behaviours in their standards, BIS decided that behaviours should be moved to the mandatory section.

So, why are behaviours so important? It is because the accuracy, reliability and detail of NDT inspections has a major influence on the outcome of plant integrity assessment. In some cases, NDT results, as notated in the NDT report, are taken at face value, without further analysis and, therefore, the reports have to be accurate and reliable.

Not all apprenticeship standards have the same requirements for behaviours. The following behaviours are included in the NDT Operator apprenticeship standard. Communication is important as it is essential that other engineers involved in the assessment of plant are kept up-to-date, as well as colleagues who may be carrying out subsequent or consequential inspections. Teamwork enables the NDT group to work effectively as a distinct unit within engineering. Timely delivery will assist with integrity solutions and the return to service of operational plant. Common sense will enable the apprentice to make appropriate decisions or refer to senior management if the situation so determines. Accurate NDT outcomes will assist in influencing plant integrity solutions. Ethics, such as integrity and honesty, are also important if the NDT operator is to promote the effectiveness of the NDT group/team.

Behaviours are very difficult to measure and realistically are best measured in the workplace over time. BIS requires all knowledge, skills and behaviours to be assessed at the end-point assessment, but this cannot be carried out in isolation. So, the intention is for the employer to carry out regular (three-monthly) assessments as part of the ongoing assessment of the apprenticeship and to submit reports to the end-point assessment organisation. The end-point assessment organisation will take the employer’s reports into account when making the final judgement.

The apprentice can influence the outcome of the behaviours review by abiding by and promoting the behaviours stipulated in the apprenticeship standard. It is worth noting that, although behaviours are not at the tip of the standard’s priorities, you can still fail your apprenticeship if the behaviours review does not meet expectations.

Next month, I will discuss engineering registration, why it is included in the apprenticeship, what it means to you and the value that the industry sector (particularly BINDT) places upon achieving one of the three registration grades.

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