Ukrainian Research Institute for Non-Destructive Testing

1. Order of certification

Person who seeks to obtain a competency certificate from the PCB "UkrRINDT" shall file an application in the approved form. The application may be submitted by an employer as well as by a candidate, if the employer and the candidate is the same person. Together with the application of PCB "UkrRINDT" shall be submitted the documents needed for certification (a list of documents contained in the application form).

After the application is examined, the Applicant receives from PCB "UkrRINDT" an assignment, where the necessary scopes of special training and experience and a training center and a Examination center of PCB are indicated, where the candidate may undergo special training and examination.

According to the assignment the candidate shall pass the special training in one of the PCB training centers and receive documentary evidence. The copies of those documents shall be provided to the ECNDT and the PCB "UkrRINDT".

After special training the candidate shall pass qualification (examinations) at one of the specified Examination centers or may do it after the necessary experience is gained. The examination records properly formed shall be delivered to the PCB.

Based on inspection of examination records, subject to data of Application and evidence of special training (evidence of experience, if necessary) the PCB makes a decision on certification. If the decision is positive the candidate will be included in the Common Register of NDT specialists and receives the certificate and the wallet card. Those documents are issued on personal request of candidate in approved form, which shall be provided to the PCB "UkrRINDT" together with the application for certification.

The validity period of competency certificates and wallet cards is determined:
* 3 years for Level І and ІІ qualification;
* 5 years for Level ІІІ qualification


2. Basic education and special training requirements

Training on Level I, II and III

Level I or II candidate shall provide documentary proof of successful completion of a training course at the recognized PCB "UkrRINDT" Training Center to the method and level for which he wants to be certified.

3. Physical fitness

The candidate shall provide the medical evidence of satisfactory vision (vision acuity and color vision) as determined by medically recognized person in accordance with requirements:
* Shortsighted – the candidate visual acuity should be such that he could read letters at least the size 1 of the Jaeger's table or number 4, 5 of "Times Roman" front or letters of equivalent size from a distance of not less than 30 cm by one or both eyes with glasses or without glasses.
* Color vision should be such that the candidate able to distinguish and differentiate contrast between the colors used in the NDT methods.Visual acuity should be conducted at least once a year.

Recommended form of medical certificate provided in the Manual for Candidates.


4. Renewal of certification and recertification

Level I and II Specialists

Renewal of certification

Upon expiry of the first period of validity, the NDT specialist, who wishes to work in scopes of the competency certificate, shall:

submit the Application (in approved form) from their employers, the copy of certificate with employer's notices about specialist's work and the same appendixes as at primary certification (except for copies of document about education), and the personal application as well.

Recertification

Upon completion of each second period of validity the certificate holder may be recertified by the certification body for the similar period.

To renew the certificate specialist shall:
* provide the actual document of the satisfactory results of testing visual acuity;
* provide documentary evidence of continued satisfactory work activity, relevant to the certification, without significant interruption;
* submit the Application (in approved form) from their employers, the copy of certificate with employer's notices about specialist's work and the same appendixes as at primary certification (except for copies of document about education), and the personal application as well.

On the ground of review of filed records the PCB gives the Applicant a assignment for qualification (only special and practical examinations) in one of the Examination centers of the PCB. The further order of renewal is the same as for primary certification. When the renewal is successful the specialist receives certificate and wallet card for validity period to the new expiration date.

Level III Specialist

Renewal of certification

Upon expiry of the first period of validity of the certificate of Level III specialist and subsequent decade, certification can be extended to a new five-year period, if specialist is satisfied by following requirements:

provide the actual document of the satisfactory results of testing visual acuity;

submit the Application (in approved form) from their employers, the copy of certificate with employer's notices about specialist's work and the same appendixes as at primary certification (except for copies of document about education), and the personal application as well.
* if there is documentary evidence of continued satisfactory work activity, relevant to the certification, without significant interruption on the method the specialist is certified then the certificate is extended for a further term;
* in the absence of written confirmation of satisfactory continuous operation in the specialty without a significant interruption in the work (depending on the choice of the candidate), the specialist should:
1. Successfully pass a written exam containing at least 20 questions on the application of the method of testing in the sector (of which at least four issues require extensive written response, and who demonstrate an understanding of modern methods for NDT, knowledge of standards, codes or specifications), and the choice of the PCB for at least five questions on the requirements of certification or
2. Satisfy the requirements of the structural system of accumulation and scoring (according to EN 473 Annex C)

In the case of satisfaction of a specialist of one of the above requirements (the system of accumulation of points or passing a written examination) – renew the period of validity period of the certificate and wallet card.

Recertification

Upon completion of each second period of validity of certificate (6 years for Level I and II specialists and 10 years for Level III specialists) .

to renew the certificate and wallet card specialist should:
* provide the actual document of the satisfactory results of testing visual acuity;
* provide documentary evidence of continued satisfactory work activity, relevant to the certification, without significant interruption;
*submit the Application (in approved form) from their employers, the copy of certificate with employer's notices about specialist's work and the same appendixes as at primary certification (except for copies of document about education), and the personal application as well;

5. Publishing of certification results

Information about certified NDT personnel is being included in the Common Register of certificated personnel, what regularly is posted on that web-site http://www.ndt.com.ua (which is updated at least once a month) and other specialized publication in the field of NDT(Download Register of certificated personnel).

The specialists, whose certificates are declared invalid, are excluded from the Register. The information about abandonment is published on that web-site http://www.ndt.com.ua (which is updated at least once a month) and other specialized publication in the field of NDT.

6. Rejection of application

The PCB "UkrRINDT" may reject the Application for certification of NDT personnel, but shall inform in written to the Applicant the reasons of rejection that may be following:
* insufficient extent of training in declared NDT methods or training at the training center, which is not recognized by PCB;
* incompleteness of filed documents (after the Applicant was informed of the necessity to complete them);
* insufficient work experience;
* unsatisfactory state of health;
* other violations of requirements of normative documents currently in force.

7.Payment for the certification services and inspection control

The value of certification is the same for all comers and is defined for internal and external markets by actual cost of PCB, as specified in "Agreement about certification" between the PCB "UkrRINDT" and the Applicant (physical person or juridical person). The expenses of certification shall be paid by the employer or an individual candidate for certification.

The expenses of the inspection control shall be paid by the employer of the certificate holder or certificate holder prior to the inspection control, according to the invoice, that is sent together with notice about the inspection.

8. Annulment of Certificate

The PCB "UkrRINDT" may declare a certificate invalid and make a decision about its annulment, if:
* validity period of the certificate is over;
* the specialist became incapable to perform his duties, as confirmed by the medical opinion;
* violation of personnel certification systems provisions was revealed in the course of inspection or audit on complaints;
* there was significant interruption of NDT activities on the method the specialist is certified.
* no payment of certification or inspection control.

9.Inspection control

The PCB "UkrRINDT" controls the specialist, who is the certificate holder during the validity period of the certificate.

The inspection control shall be executed at least once during the validity period of the certificate. The PCB "UkrRINDT" provide the employer with resume based on the inspection results, where the remarks and corrective actions are set out.

If the conclusion upon inspection results is negative, the PCB "UkrRINDT" may take a decision about annulment of the certificate and the wallet card. The expenses of inspection shall be paid by certificate holder prior to the inspection, according to the invoice, that is sent together with notice about the inspection.