ICNDT Guides

The competence of those carrying out NDT is an essential pre-requisite for the achievement of quality and reliability.
Qualification and Certification of NDT personnel in accordance with International Standards such as ISO 9712 (Non-destructive testing – Qualification and certification of personnel) and aligned standards helps to ensure that people are competent and assists global business and safety standards.

The ICNDT, with a track record of 45 years in international co-operation in NDT, is dedicated to supporting best practice in the implementation of these standards and to this end has published its 'Guide and Recommendations for Qualification and Certification of NDT personnel according to ISO 9712'.

The original Guide was published in June 2004 at the 16th WCNDT in Montreal, based on a first draft produced by Mr G Nardoni. The first update was approved for publication at the 17th WCNDT in Shanghai. The next version was published to coincide with the 18th WCNDT in Durban and the agreements in ISO and CEN to unify ISO 9712 and EN 473 in a new standard ISO 9712, published in 2012. The current version reflects updates in ISO 17024 and the developments in ICNDT to create an international Multilateral Recognition Agreement and to document how different certification bodies are implementing ISO 9712:2012. ICNDT will update this document periodically and will provide the latest version here. Users are strongly advised to check that they have the latest version of this document and the referenced standards. Comments and suggestions are welcome and should be sent to the ICNDT secretariat.

In response to a large-scale fraud by an Authorised Qualifying Body (AQB) in 2017 affecting over 3000 certificate holders, the ICNDT Working Group 1 (WG1) has developed guidelines aimed at preventing similar incidents and mitigating risks for Certification Bodies delivering ISO 9712 personnel certification.

These guidelines emphasize the need for robust procedures and controls to eliminate fraud, offering guidance on best practices for training, examinations, and managing impartiality.

The document serves as a standalone resource to ensure the integrity and reliability of certification schemes.

Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) is of great importance, ensuring the safety of the public. The knowledge and competence of those who specify NDT is an essential pre-requisite for the achievement of quality and reliability as well as the competence of those who execute NDT and handle and respond to the results.

The ICNDT, with a track record of almost 60 years in international cooperation, has prepared this Guide to help disseminate best practice in NDT education and training.

In accordance with its 2012 Strategic Plan, ICNDT, through its Working Group (WG 3) on NDT Education and Research, will promote regular workshops at major conferences. The first two of these, at the 20th QNDE meeting in Baltimore (July 2013) and at the 14th Asia Pacific Conference in Mumbai (November 2013), have provided valuable input to this issue of the Guide.

NDT and diagnostic technologies such as condition monitoring play a crucial role in assuring the safety of modern societies. Major uses of NDT include transport (for example planes, trains and ships), energy infrastructures (oil & gas rigs and pipelines, power stations) and manufacturing (steelmaking to electronics). However there are many other applications of NDT that are essential to protect our safety, such as checking the welds on fairground rides or the towers and cables of ski lifts.

The capabilities of NDT have improved substantially in recent years and are steadily improving thanks to successful research and development, but even more challenging requirements continue to arise.
During the 11th ECNDT 2014 conference in Prague, ICNDT organised a Workshop to consider the importance of NDT, to identify critical research needs and to explore ways of supporting such research. The presentations on which this brochure is based are available here on this website.

This brochure highlights why NDT, including diagnostic technologies, is so important; it gives examples of current research and suggests how better funding arrangements for the medium to long term may be encouraged. Industrial users of NDT, as well as universities and other research institutes, have a key role to play, whilst national and international NDT societies can provide the forums for discussion and advice that are so important.

The use of radioactive sources to inspect materials for hidden flaws is a valuable commercial assessment tool employed by numerous industries, including Aerospace, Automotive, Casting & Forging, Chemical & Petroleum, Construction, Food Processing, Metals & Non-Metals, and Pipelines. This means that thousands of sources are in use at any time all over the world.

Because industrial radiography needs no electricity to work, it is particularly applicable to field operations. However, radiography sources emit energetic, high intensity gamma rays that can cause significant damage to health if they are used incorrectly. The fact that they are frequently transported between fixed locations and temporary jobsites introduces potential vulnerabilities, and there have been many reported cases of them being lost or going out of regulatory control. Therefore, their security should be of great concern to all users, regulators and law enforcement officials.

Some companies that use radioactive sources may believe that only modest expenditures on security are warranted because their companies are small, their resources are limited, and the monetary value of the radiography devices they use is not high. However, given the potential harm to its employees, the public and the company’s reputation if sources are misused—plus the potential costs of clean-up and other mitigation measures should an incident occur – companies may conclude that additional security expenditure is warranted.

The concepts described in this guide can serve as a primer for developing a security programme that decreases the possibility your sources will be lost or stolen. If the measures addressed here are applied effectively, they can enhance the security of your sources at fixed locations, during transport, and at temporary job sites.