Extension to certification while the COVID-19 pandemic is prevalent

It can be very challenging to do the right thing in many situations and NDT does have its own challenges. How many times have you had to do the right thing when performing a test, by following the issued instructions and working to the correct standard, only to be asked if you could forget that minor defect? If that minor defect could be forgotten, the acceptance criteria would allow it to be so, but as the criteria do not allow it to be forgotten it must be a significant defect to the people who wrote the criteria and to the designers who chose those criteria.

One of the aspects of certification that BINDT’s PCN department has been working on is the extension to certification while the COVID-19 pandemic is prevalent and creating mayhem in society. To emerge from the need to have an extension in place is not going to be an easy process and, to make matters more challenging, the pandemic is striking in different parts of the world at different times and at different levels of severity, so ‘one rule fits all’ may not be appropriate. Many of the Approved Training Organisations (ATOs) and Authorised Qualifying Bodies (AQBs) are open for business or are looking at how to open in the near future; please contact your preferred choice to see what availability it has. There is a genuine concern that certificate holders will try to book in at the last moment to take any recertification examinations and the AQBs will not have the necessary availability due to the restrictions on numbers allowed in the buildings and overall demand. Do not be in a situation where you have to apply for a late deferred extension as this will cost you money, time and possibly your employment if your certification expires. If you are furloughed in the UK you can still train, so get yourself ready for work.

I have recently been involved in the review of a couple of cases where the paper certificates have been altered and no longer match the database records held by BINDT’s Certification Records Office (CRO). One case states that a person was approached by an agent in Malaysia who would sort everything out for a fee; if you are considering doing this, please think carefully as to what they can do that you could not do yourself. It is possible to attempt to alter a certificate; however, the PCN verification tool is free and available for all to use. If you are in the position where you are accepting a person’s PCN certification, please verify that it matches the information shown on the verification tool and, if in doubt, contact PCN so that additional checks can be performed. The person who tries to cheat the system is possibly competing for your job and has little or no moral integrity, so will probably be less diligent in their work. If you know or suspect that someone has altered their certificate please contact PCN. Another case was uncovered on the American continent by an employer seeking verification and becoming aware that the paper record did not match the electronic record. There is a process that is applied to the investigation of such incidents and, at the date of writing, the full process has not been concluded; however, historically people have had existing certification removed and been banned from PCN for years, with their details published for all to see. Do not do anything that could lead you into this situation.

I hope you and your families are keeping well in these trying times.

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