Qualification for Liquid Penetrant Testing

[jclsws]

What level of personnel qualification is required to perform a liquid penetrant test on a Section VIII vessel? Our personnel have completed Level 1 and 2 classes.

 

[metengr]

Please review UW-54 of ASME Section VIII, Div 1 and Section V (T-150) so that you can fully understand what is required and learn more about the code.

 

[jclsws]

Thanks. Those parts of the code are exactly what I was looking for. My concentration is on design,so I don't normally deal with test procedures and qualifications. That's usually handled by the QA Manager, but management has me involved with this for some reason.

 

[weldstan]

Qualification requirements are defined in Mandatory Appendix 8. Qualification need not be per SNT-TC-1A.

 

[Duwe6]

[all of the above, plus] the usual scheme is that a Level III writes and approves the testing procedures, and Level II's perform those tests i.a.w. those procedures. L/II can work w/o supervision*, and can be the 'final signature' on a test report. L/I's have to work under direct supervision by a L/II or L/III, and have to have their reports countersigned by a L/II or L/III.

L/III is required to perform random audits of the L/II's and L/I's performing testing, to ensure that they are working within the boundaries of the approved procedure.

 

[jclsws]

Thanks, Duwe6. That was pretty much my understanding of the code. Our Level 2 guy was trained and examined by a certified Level 3. Prior to his training, which is recent, we have always outsourced all of our NDT. Our testing procedure policy was therefore the procedure that the vendor used with the vendor doing the testing. We are now looking to develop our own in-house procedure, thus the reason for training one of our own inspectors. Our game plan is to develop a procedure using SNT-TC-1A as a guide and submit that procedure to an AI for approval. We would then have additional personnel certified by a Level 3.