🔬 Qualification and certification of NDT personnel — PN-EN ISO 9712

Materials PN-EN ISO 9712

Overview

WHY IT IS IN NON-DESTRUCTIVE TESTING THAT PEOPLE ARE CERTIFIED. In chemical analysis the result comes out of an instrument and can be reconstructed from the raw data. In non-destructive testing — ultrasonic, magnetic particle, penetrant, radiographic — the crucial stage is the INTERPRETATION of an indication by the tester: is the echo on the screen a flaw or a reflection from geometry; is the particle indication a crack or a surface scratch. Two people of different experience, with the same equipment and the same object, may reach different judgements. That is why in this field the competence of personnel is formalised in the same way as the calibration of apparatus.

TEN METHODS COVERED BY CERTIFICATION — THE LIST FROM THE CARD IN FULL: "a) acoustic emission testing; b) eddy current testing; c) leak testing (excluding hydraulic pressure tests); d) magnetic testing; e) penetrant testing; f) radiographic testing; g) strain gauge testing; h) thermographic testing; i) ultrasonic testing; j) visual testing (excluding direct unaided visual testing and visual testing carried out during the application of another NDT method)".

TWO EXCLUSIONS HIDDEN IN BRACKETS. In item c) hydraulic pressure tests are excluded from certification, although they are sometimes counted as leak testing. In item j) direct unaided visual testing is excluded — the card explains in a note that this means the situation where "there is an uninterrupted optical path from the observer's eye to the test area and the observer uses no tools or devices (e.g. mirror, endoscope, optical fibre)" — as is visual testing carried out as part of another NDT method. Looking at a surface with the naked eye therefore requires no certificate under this standard; looking at it with an endoscope does.

A SYSTEM OPEN TO OTHER METHODS. The card provides that the system also covers "other NDT methods or NDT techniques within an established NDT method, provided that a comprehensive certification system exists and the NDT method or technique is covered by international, regional or national standards, or the NDT method or technique has been demonstrated to be effective to the satisfaction of the certification body". The list of ten methods is therefore not closed.

WHAT THE STANDARD DOES NOT COVER — TWO PROVISOS FROM THE NOTES. First, the term "industrial" means the exclusion of applications in the field of medicine. Second, the document sets requirements for a system of THIRD-PARTY conformity assessment; the card notes that "these requirements do not apply directly to second-party or first-party conformity assessment, but essential elements of this document may be used in such arrangements". A certificate issued by an employer is therefore not a certificate within the meaning of this standard.

CERTIFICATION IS SEPARATE FOR EACH METHOD — AND THIS IS THE COMMONEST MISUNDERSTANDING. The scope lists the methods separately, each under its own letter, which means that qualification and certification relate to the METHOD, not to "non-destructive testing" as a whole. A person certified in ultrasonic testing is not by that fact entitled to issue judgements from radiographic testing. In assessing someone else's report one therefore checks not the mere fact of holding a certificate but which method it covers.

LEVELS OF COMPETENCE — WHAT WE DO NOT SAY ABOUT THEM. Industrial practice commonly speaks of qualification levels differing in the degree of independence, from performing tests under supervision to drawing up procedures. WE DO NOT GIVE, however, their number, the division of entitlements or the experience requirements: the catalogue card does not contain them and we do not hold the text of the standard. This is a matter to be checked in the document itself before invoking a level in laboratory documentation.

CERTIFICATION OF A PERSON VERSUS ACCREDITATION OF A LABORATORY. These are two different things that are often confused. Accreditation to ISO/IEC 17025 concerns the laboratory as an organisation; certification under this standard concerns a particular person, and does so within a system of THIRD-PARTY assessment, as the card states expressly. Having certified employees does not make a laboratory accredited, and accreditation does not replace personal certificates.

CHANGE OF EDITION. PN-EN ISO 9712:2022-09 superseded PN-EN ISO 9712:2012. Both are available in the Polish version — with this standard the translation has held, unlike PN-EN ISO 9612 and PN-EN 12390-4, which have their own entries in this knowledge base. The 2022 edition implements EN ISO 9712:2022 [IDT] and ISO 9712:2021 [IDT] — the ISO document is a year older than the European one, which in references is sometimes a source of discrepant dates.

WHAT WE DO NOT GIVE. We do not have the text of the standard — PKN supplies it for a fee (54 pages, TC 7, ICS 03.100.30 and 19.100). We therefore DO NOT GIVE the conditions on which methods outside the list are brought within certification, the requirements as to experience and training, the scope of the examinations, the period of validity of a certificate or the conditions for its renewal.

Method principle

Competence is demonstrated formally: through documented training, documented practical experience and a passed examination — separately for each test method and for a defined industrial sector. The certificate is issued by a certification body, not by an employer, and has a limited period of validity. The extent of the entitlement depends on the qualification level, whose division we do not quote — it is in the text of the standard.

Applications

• Confirming the competence of personnel performing ultrasonic, magnetic particle, penetrant, radiographic, eddy current, acoustic emission and leak testing
• A formal requirement in the accreditation of NDT laboratories to ISO/IEC 17025
• Verifying the entitlement of the person signing a non-destructive testing judgement
• Planning training and certificate renewals in an NDT laboratory

Key parameters

Standard

Standard number

PN-EN ISO 9712:2022-09 (wersja polska; wprowadza EN ISO 9712:2022 [IDT] oraz ISO 9712:2021 [IDT])

Title (PL)

Badania nieniszczące -- Kwalifikacja i certyfikacja personelu badań nieniszczących

Title (EN)

Non-destructive testing — Qualification and certification of NDT personnel

Step-by-step procedure

1. Establish the method

   A certificate relates to a particular method from the list in the scope. Begin by identifying which tests the laboratory actually performs.

2. Check the level needed for the activity

   The extent of the entitlement depends on the qualification level. WE DO NOT QUOTE THE DIVISION — check it in the text of the standard before invoking a level in your documentation.

3. Document training and experience

   The requirements as to the scope of training and experience are in the standard — WE DO NOT QUOTE them, as we do not hold its text.

4. Examination and certification

   The examination is conducted and the certificate issued by a certification body. A document issued by an employer is not a certificate within the meaning of this standard.

5. Keep watch over validity

   Certificates are issued for a fixed term. WE GIVE NEITHER THE PERIOD OF VALIDITY NOR THE CONDITIONS FOR RENEWAL — they are in the text of the standard. Keep a register of dates: a lapse of validity removes the entitlement to judge, however unchanged the skills.

6. Check when assessing someone else’s report

   Verify not the mere fact of a certificate but its SCOPE against the activity the person performed — above all the method.

Required equipment and apparatus

Reagents, media and consumables

Health and safety (OHS)

• The standard itself creates no hazards; the hazards come from the test methods — above all radiography (ionising radiation) and penetrant testing (reagents)
• TECHNICAL NOTE: a certificate in one method gives no entitlement to judge in another — the commonest error in assessing entitlements
• TECHNICAL NOTE: excluded from certification are hydraulic pressure tests, direct unaided visual testing and medical applications

Frequently asked questions