Radiographic Testing (RT) Requirements Under ABS Service Supplier

Radiation safety sits alongside the technical requirement: the radiographer licence, the area control and the dose records are audited as part of the same programme. ABS Service Supplier, enforced by American Bureau of Shipping (ABS); certification issued exclusively by ABS: Employer-based certification is accepted; ABS verifies certificates rather than issuing them, and personnel qualification verification is a formal step of.

An auditor examining RT asks for source or tube, exposure devices, film or detectors, densitometers, IQIs and the survey meters used to control the area. ABS recognizes service suppliers so that its surveyors can accept their results. It is a company-level certification: ABS performs a technical documentation review, a facility and quality system assessment, verification of personnel qualifications, and a performance evaluation through practical demonstration, then issues a Recognition Certificate and lists the firm in the ABS Global Service Supplier Database with its scope, certificate validity and assigned ABS port office. The commercially distinctive point is that ABS recognizes NDT/NDI/NDE as an ABS Rule-required service in its own right — a separate entry point from hull gauging for an inspection company doing weld examination on ABS-classed newbuilds and repairs.

Source: ABS Service Supplier programme page at ww2.eagle.org (full service type list, three service families, five-step approval process, annual-audit markers) and the ABS Service Supplier Cutsheet, © 2026 American Bureau of Shipping (five-year Recognition Certificate, programme steps, service categories, contact servicesuppliers@eagle.org) — both retrieved August 2026. Level 1/2/3 authority split taken from the ABS Guide for Nondestructive Inspection of Hull Welds, Section 1 Personnel and Section 1/7 Procedures and Techniques (2004-marked revisions in the ABS-hosted edition read); ABS has issued later editions of that Guide which were not read.

Does ABS Service Supplier require a separate procedure for RT?

Yes. Every method in scope needs its own written procedure, approved by someone qualified in that method, describing technique, equipment, calibration, scanning or coverage, acceptance criteria and reporting. A single combined "NDT procedure" covering several methods is a finding under every regime that names procedures individually.

Who can approve a RT procedure under ABS Service Supplier?

A Level III qualified in RT. Because ABS Service Supplier accepts employer-based certification, that Level III may be contracted rather than employed — but their own qualification must cover RT, and an auditor will check that before accepting the signature.

What RT records does a ABS Service Supplier audit sample?

The approved procedure, the technician's RT certification on the date of work, and the equipment evidence — source or tube, exposure devices, film or detectors, densitometers, IQIs and the survey meters used to control the area. The auditor works backwards from a finished job, so every item has to reconcile with the report and its stated acceptance criteria.

What is the most common RT finding at audit?

IQI sensitivity not achieved, or radiation area control records missing for the shot. It is a records failure rather than a technique failure — the examination was performed correctly and the evidence supporting it cannot be produced, which under ABS Service Supplier is recorded the same way as not having done the work.

Can a technician certified elsewhere perform RT under ABS Service Supplier?

Not automatically. Employer-based certification ends when the holder leaves, so the new employer must certify them under its own written practice. Prior training and documented experience transfer as evidence; the certificate itself does not.

What equipment evidence does RT need under ABS Service Supplier?

Calibration status traceable to the day of use, covering the instrument and its accessories — probes, cables, blocks and reference standards for ultrasonics; sources and densitometers for radiography. An in-calibration instrument with an out-of-calibration reference block fails the same way as an uncalibrated one.

How do RT requirements differ from the other methods in ABS Service Supplier?

Scope, qualification and evidence are method-specific, so the differences are real rather than administrative. ABS Service Supplier also covers UT (hull gauging and ultrasonic thickness measurement), UT (weld examination), MT, PT, VT, and each carries its own procedure, its own personnel qualification and its own equipment evidence.

Related: the ABS Service Supplier overview, outsourced ASNT Level III cover, written practice development, NDT procedure development, a programme gap assessment, interim Level III cover.