BINDT was honoured to receive a visit from Tracie Clifford and Dusty York, two senior staff members at Chattanooga State Education. They had spent the previous day at the University of Northampton (UoN) looking at possible cooperation projects for the near future and we were advised that there had been positive discussions covering interesting possibilities. BINDT has greatly assisted the UoN with the introduction of the foundation degree course and continues to support it as it is now part of the English Level 6 NDT apprenticeship. The degree continues to be available to the private individual and, being a distance learning course, geography is not an issue.
Rolls-Royce plc was also present, bringing two apprentices, one current and physically present and another former apprentice who joined us via a video conferencing platform as he now lives in the USA. Both were able to contribute to the discussions and my colleagues commented after the meeting how impressed they were, especially with the current apprentice, who joined Iain Baillie, BINDT President, and David Gilbert, BINDT CEO, plus other esteemed visitors and BINDT staff in the Council Chambers at BINDT headquarters. IMechE staff were also present at the meeting, as their Chief Examiner had prompted discussions at events pre-covid, and they were instrumental in bringing the parties together. Overall, it will be interesting to see how relationships now develop and what collaborative events transpire.
BINDT, particularly PCN, continues to be involved in handling complaints from around the world, often relating to a PCN certificate holder allegedly not carrying out testing in an ethical manner.
Investigations do uncover some interesting working practices; however, PCN is not able to effect any sanctions on the employer, only the certificate holder, with the removal of their certification. Where there are concerns relating to the employer’s practices, the local equivalent of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and, potentially, the police are informed.
Interestingly, this was a point that was raised in the meeting, where the Rolls-Royce managers said that they wanted the apprentice to be able to comment if the working conditions are not satisfactory and could be improved by better access, lighting, ventilation, etc. Additionally, the state of fatigue and other mental pressures that could be prevalent were raised. In my contracting working time I regularly worked 12-hour shifts, day or night, seven days a week for weeks on end. The rewards were good; however, how effective were we and did we make mistakes?
I have also been in a discussion relating to the merits of a hands-on practical NDT operator compared to a graduate who has come into the profession in a managerial post with less practical but more theoretical experience. It is my opinion that both are required and the skills can be interchangeable, with the vocational tester being able to gain academic qualifications and vice versa. There does seem to be a school of thought that this is not the case, but it should be discounted.
On a different topic entirely, what do you do with a decommissioned North Sea platform? You could transport it to Weston-super-Mare on a flatbed barge and locate it on the beach. This is exactly what has happened and the 35 m-tall construction will feature four levels animated by a waterfall, named the ‘SEE Monster’. There will be a 6000-piece kinetic installation forming the scales of the monster, along with a green oasis, a seated amphitheatre and a broadcast studio. The current images show a used platform stripped of most of its engineering, but there are still plenty of in-service structural welds to perform NDT on; however, this is probably not what the North Somerset Council are considering. There is potential for real-life STEM activities involving NDT, rope access and drone inspections in a fun surrounding, but sadly health & safety would probably not allow it. If you are interested in more information and would like to see images, search the Internet for ‘Weston-super-Mare SEE Monster art installation’. Note that the spelling of ‘SEE’ is intentional.
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