Examination Records for INN / SICEP
INN / SICEP names this requirement as "Práctica Escrita to ASNT SNT-TC-1A, signed and dated by the Level III, naming every method, level and technique and the education, training, experience and examination requirements.". The employer's Level III owns it, and a contracted Level III can author and sign it.
The finding auditors record against this document is: Level II technicians certified in UT are performing phased array with no separate technique qualification and no documented examination. Chile does not licence NDT companies. Access is controlled in two separate places instead. Accreditation: INN runs the Sistema Nacional de Acreditación and accredits inspection bodies against NCh-ISO 17020:2012 under its accreditation regulation INN-R401. Accreditation is voluntary in itself but becomes obligatory wherever a technical regulation incorporates it; applications go through INN's SDAC portal on forms F407-21-01 and FD-D06-04, and accreditations are granted for five years, renewable, with surveillance evaluations during the term. Commercial access: the mining majors screen contractors through SICEP, the Sistema de Calificación de Empresas Proveedoras, which rates financial capacity, operational and technical capability, legal and labour compliance and risk prevention. A firm can be technically excellent and still not be biddable without SICEP standing.
Source: INN, Organismos de Inspección accreditation page and accreditation FAQ (accessed August 2026), giving NCh-ISO 17020-2012 as the applicable standard, the SDAC application route at sdac.inn.cl, forms F407-21-01v02 and FD-D06-04v01, guidance DA-D06, criteria document DA-D22 v07, fee regulation INN-R410 v08, accreditation regulation INN-R401, the five-year renewable accreditation term with surveillance during the term, IAAC MLA founding membership and founding membership of Global ACI, successor to the merged ILAC and IAF; INN catalogue record for NCh-ISO9712:2018, "Ensayos no destructivos - Calificación y certificación del personal que realiza ensayos no destructivos", published 30 August 2018, shown as No Vigente; INN list of approved standards showing NCh3918:2026 and NCh3919:2026 on acoustic emission; Chile Decreto Supremo N° 132 (Ministerio de Minería), Reglamento de Seguridad Minera, published 7 February 2004, Articles 185, 188, 191 and 378, text read directly; Chile Decreto Supremo N° 10 (Ministerio de Salud, Subsecretaría de Salud Pública), Reglamento de calderas, autoclaves y equipos que utilizan vapor de agua, published 19 October 2013, superseding DS N° 48; INN accreditation certificate OI232 for NDT held by an accredited inspection body; SICEP public pages and Asociación de Industriales de Antofagasta material (accessed August 2026).
| Item | What applies | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Regime | Sistema Nacional de Acreditación del Instituto Nacional de Normalización (INN) and Chilean Mining-Sector Inspection Requirements | Enforced by Instituto Nacional de Normalización (INN), which is both the national standards body and the national accreditation body; Servicio Nacional de Geología y Minería (SERNAGEOMIN) for mine safety; the SEREMI de Salud for boilers, autoclaves and steam equipment; SICEP, administered by the Asociación de Industriales de Antofagasta, as the mining supplier register |
| Document | Examination Records | the general, specific and practical examination papers and results behind each certification |
| Owner | the employer's Level III | The signature an auditor traces back |
| Where it is checked | INN decision and grant of accreditation for a five-year period, published with the approved scope; Surveillance evaluations during. | Usually against a sampled job, not in isolation |
| Common failure | The written practice is a generic template that was never tailored to the methods and techniques the company actually sells, and the Level III who signed it is no longer engaged | The gap between the manual and the job file |
What must a examination records contain under INN / SICEP?
It has to satisfy INN / SICEP as Instituto Nacional de Normalización (INN), which is both the national standards body and the national accreditation body; Servicio Nacional de Geología y Minería (SERNAGEOMIN) for mine safety; the SEREMI de Salud for boilers, autoclaves and steam equipment; SICEP, administered by the Asociación de Industriales de Antofagasta, as the mining supplier register enforces it: the general, specific and practical examination papers and results behind each certification. The test is not completeness on paper but traceability — an auditor picks a finished job and works backwards to this document, so anything it claims must be demonstrable on that job.
Who signs the examination records for INN / SICEP?
The employer's Level III. Because this regime accepts employer-based certification, that role can be filled by a contracted Level III rather than a staff appointment, provided they are qualified in the methods they sign for.
How does a INN / SICEP auditor test this document?
By sampling. They take a completed job, find the technicians and equipment used, and trace each back through this document to the evidence behind it. A document that reads well but cannot survive that trace is the most common finding across every regime, not just this one.
How long must INN / SICEP records be kept?
INN accreditation is granted for five years and may be renewed for further five-year cycles, with surveillance evaluations during the term to verify continued conformity; INN does not publish a fixed surveillance month on its public pages, so confirm the schedule in INN-R401 rather than assuming one. SICEP standing is a periodically updated diagnosis rather than a fixed-term certificate and lapses if the file is not maintained. Boiler and autoclave inspection under the Ministry of Health regulation runs on a frequency tied to equipment category; establish the category before quoting an interval to a client. Retention is set by the regime and by the client contract above it, and the longer of the two governs. Firms that set one retention period for everything and document it fare better at audit than firms tracking different periods per record type and losing track.
Does a generic template satisfy INN / SICEP?
No. A downloaded template describes a generic firm, and the first question an auditor asks is whether the document describes THIS firm — its methods, its equipment, its people, its actual workflow. Templates are a starting structure; the content has to be the firm's own or the trace fails immediately.
What happens if this document is missing at a INN / SICEP audit?
It is a finding, and depending on the regime it can suspend the certificate rather than merely generate a corrective action. The related finding auditors record most often is: The written practice is a generic template that was never tailored to the methods and techniques the company actually sells, and the Level III who signed it is no longer engaged
Where this sits in the INN / SICEP evidence pack
- Práctica Escrita to ASNT SNT-TC-1A, signed and dated by the Level III, naming every method, level and technique and the education, training, experience and examination requirements for each
- Certificados de calificación y certificación del personal by method and level, with general, specific and practical examination papers and grading records
- Registros de agudeza visual (Jaeger N.º 1 or equivalent) and colour differentiation, dated within the last twelve months
- Procedimientos de END approved by the Level III and traceable to ASME BPVC Section V, AWS D1.1, API or the client's own specification
- Certificados de calibración de equipos plus verification records for reference blocks, transducers and gauges
- Manual de gestión conforming to NCh-ISO 17020:2012, with the impartiality analysis and the type A, B or C declaration, where INN accreditation is sought
- Formulario F407-21-01 (solicitud de evaluación) and the scope form FD-D06-04, submitted through SDAC, with fees per INN-R410
- SICEP file: financial statements, technical and equipment inventory, legal and labour compliance certificates and the risk-prevention programme
- Autorización sanitaria and radiation-protection authorisation from the SEREMI de Salud for industrial radiography sources and operators
Personnel certification context
Employer-based certification is accepted, and in practice is the norm. Chile has adopted ISO 9712 as NCh-ISO 9712, but the 2018 edition is shown as no longer current in INN's own catalogue, and INN's register of accredited personnel certification bodies does not list a Chilean body certifying NDT personnel to it, so there is no verified domestic route to an ISO 9712 certificate. Chilean technicians therefore hold employer certification written against ASNT SNT-TC-1A, or ISO 9712 certificates issued by foreign bodies. An outsourced ASNT Level III can write and sign the employer's written practice, approve procedures and certify Level I and II staff, which is how most Chilean NDT firms operate.
Related: the INN / SICEP overview, outsourced ASNT Level III cover, written practice development, NDT procedure development, a programme gap assessment, interim Level III cover.