Validating Documented Work Experience for Initial NDT Qualification

Editor’s note:?Welcome to?Material Evaluation’s new column on NDT ethics. Toni Bailey, an ASNT NDT Level III in five methods with NAS 410 Level III and IRRSP certifications, is the editor. Each month, she will present an ethics case study and invite readers to respond here on?ASNT Pulse?with their comments. Readers are also invited to email Bailey with their own ethical scenarios, which may be featured anonymously in future columns.

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This month, we will discuss an ethics scenario regarding the validation and documentation of work experience for initial nondestructive testing (NDT) qualification, along with examples of potentially unethical behavior when proving the validity of documentation.

All industries have requirements for the validation of an employee’s capabilities, skills, and training. NDT work experience/on-the-job training (also referred to as OJT) hours is one of the core requirements to obtain advancement in the NDT industry.

In NDT, the employer must verify that the technical knowledge and skill sets (qualification) for Level I, II, and III candidates are valid and true. The intent and/or requirement of most qualification and certification documents is that the experience hours be documented in written form and truthfully witnessed (in writing) by another qualified and certified NDT technician. The witness requirements depend on the level of NDT certification that is sought.

Let us discuss a scenario regarding some claimed Level II experience hours in NDT used toward initial Level III qualification for company certification.

A trainee was hired to work for Company 1 in the automotive industry, where she began working in the radiographic testing (RT) department performing computed tomography (CT). The candidate was selected due to her claimed two years of college studies in mechanical engineering, but she actually only attended one semester of college curriculum rather than two years. The candidate was provided 24 hours of hands-on training by the computed radiography (CR) equipment manufacturer and after the training, she continued to work unsupervised in the CT department where she accumulated 2476 experience hours. The candidate did not document these hours in written form, and there was no company NDT Level II or III to witness her work because the company was an automotive manufacturer and did not have a company written practice. Additionally, the candidate never attended initial Level I or II formal classroom training for RT.

After working for the automotive company for two years, the CT candidate left Company 1 and was hired by a new employer, Company 2, to perform CR per the?ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code, Section V:?Nondestructive Examination?(2021). The candidate stated that she was eligible for ASNT NDT Level III certification because her hands-on CT experience was equivalent to her now-required CR experience. She provided an experience letter from her prior employer, which she wrote herself on company letterhead along with her falsely stated college credentials. Company 2’s NDT Responsible Level III was brand-new and did not know that he was required to validate her credentials and did not contact Company 1. Therefore, the Responsible Level III verbally accepted her claimed credentials and approved her qualifications as meeting the company’s written practice in accordance with Recommended Practice No. SNT-TC-1A:?Personnel Qualification and Certification in Nondestructive Testing?(2020).

The candidate was enthusiastic to obtain ASNT certification, so she attended a 40-hour Basic refresher course and a 40-hour RT Level III refresher course, which were both taught by a certified ASNT NDT Level III in the method of RT. The candidate applied for her ASNT certification examinations by providing her experience letter and her two classroom training certificates, signing the name of her ASNT-certified instructor on the ASNT application without his knowledge. She went on to pass her Basic and RT examinations and then obtained her ASNT certification in RT. When the candidate returned to work with her new ASNT certification, her Responsible Level III immediately certified her as a CR Level III for Company 2.

We now ask you, the reader, was this candidate eligible for initial CR Level III certification for Company 2? Were the candidate’s actions considered ethical behavior? We would like to hear from the NDT community. Please engage in the conversation by leaving a comment.

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Acknowledgments

The author would like to thank Greg Weaver, ASNT NDT Level III/NAS 410 Level III, of Weaver NDT for his helpful review.

Author

Antionette (Toni) Bailey, ASNT NDT Level III/NAS 410 Level III (MT, PT, RT, UT, ET), and IRRSP, TB3 NDT Consulting LLC, Manorville, NY.?[email protected]

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