Visual Testing (VT) Requirements Under TTBS / OSH Act

Visual is the method most often performed without a written procedure, and it is exactly as procedure-bound as the others — including the illumination level actually measured at the surface. TTBS / OSH Act, enforced by Trinidad and Tobago Bureau of Standards (TTBS), including its laboratory accreditation arm.: Employer-based certification is accepted for NDT, and is dominant.

An auditor examining VT asks for light meters, measuring aids, mirrors and borescopes where remote viewing is used. Trinidad and Tobago has no NDT-specific regime, and the gap itself is the commercially important fact. TTBS's accreditation arm, TTLABS, accredits laboratories to ISO/IEC 17025 and ISO 15189 only, so there is no domestic route to ISO/IEC 17020 inspection body accreditation; firms go to JANAAC in Jamaica or to a foreign accreditation body, which is how TTBS's own Implementation Division came to hold ISO/IEC 17020:2012 accreditation. What is legally binding sits elsewhere. Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act, Chap. 88:08, and the Boilers Regulations and Air Pressure Containers Regulations continued in force by section 98(2), steam boilers and air pressure containers must be thoroughly examined every twelve months by a person holding a Ministerial licence who is independent of the occupier, owner or hirer.

Source: Occupational Safety and Health Act, 2004 (Act No. 1 of 2004), Chap. 88:08, as amended by Act No. 3 of 2006, Laws of Trinidad and Tobago revised edition, read directly: the Occupational Safety and Health (Prescribed Forms) Order (GN 187-1948) items 18 Hoists or Lifts, 19 Steam Boilers and 20 Air Pressure Containers; the Boilers Regulations (GN 2-1949) including the annual and other examinations provisions, the boiler examiner licence and independence requirement, Gazette publication of licences and the list of boiler examiners on 1 January each year, and the twenty-one day report filing period; the Special Provisions for Safety in the Case of Air Pressure Containers Regulations (GN 3-1949) including the competent person requirement; all continued in force by section 98(2). The Act, except section 98, came into operation by Proclamation LN 48/2006 on 17 February 2006, with section 98 brought into force by 17 August 2007, repealing the Factories Ordinance (Ch. 30 No. 2), the Employment of Women (Night Work) Act and the Gas Cylinders (Use, Conveyance and Storage) Act. TTBS website and TTLABS accreditation page (accessed August 2026) confirming accreditation to ISO/IEC 17025 and ISO 15189, ILAC and IAAC membership, and that the TTBS Implementation Division operates as an ISO/IEC 17020:2012 inspection body accredited by JANAAC; JANAAC website confirming ISO/IEC 17020 among its scopes alongside ISO/IEC 17025, ISO/IEC 17021-1 and ISO 15189, and its IAAC MLA and ILAC MRA signatory status; CROSQ report of TTBS Certification Division accreditation by JANAAC to ISO/IEC 17021-1:2015 on 3 October 2022. The Standards Act number and chapter establishing TTBS could not be verified from a primary source in this session and is therefore not stated.

Visual Testing under TTBS / OSH Act — procedure, personnel and evidence
Item	What applies	Why it matters
Regime	Trinidad and Tobago Bureau of Standards (TTBS) and the Occupational Safety and Health Act, Chap. 88:08	Enforced by Trinidad and Tobago Bureau of Standards (TTBS), including its laboratory accreditation arm TTLABS; the Occupational Safety and Health Authority and Agency; the Minister responsible, who licenses boiler examiners; the Ministry of Energy and Energy Industries for petroleum operations
Method	Visual Testing (VT)	Needs its own procedure and its own qualified personnel
Procedure approval	The employer's Level III, qualified in this method	The signature an auditor traces
Other methods in scope	UT, PAUT, TOFD, RT, MT, PT	Each needs separate qualification
Renewal	The statutory intervals are fixed and verifiable. Steam boilers and all fittings and attachments: thorough examination at least once in every period of twelve months and also after any extensive repairs, with the twelve months running from completion of the examination under normal steam pressure; the competent person may extend that period by not more than one month in an emergency where shutdown would cause serious loss or damage, after which the next examination must fall within the succeeding eleven months. Air pressure containers: thoroughly cleaned, examined and hydraulically tested every twelve months. Hoists and lifts: thoroughly examined every twelve months. Boiler examiners' licences and the examination fee schedule are published in the Gazette on 1 January each year.	Applies to the personnel certification behind this method

Does TTBS / OSH Act require a separate procedure for VT?

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 VT procedure under TTBS / OSH Act?

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

What VT records does a TTBS / OSH Act audit sample?

The approved procedure, the technician's VT certification on the date of work, and the equipment evidence — light meters, measuring aids, mirrors and borescopes where remote viewing is used. 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 VT finding at audit?

Illumination at the surface never measured, or near-vision acuity test lapsed. 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 TTBS / OSH Act is recorded the same way as not having done the work.

Can a technician certified elsewhere perform VT under TTBS / OSH Act?

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 VT need under TTBS / OSH Act?

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 VT requirements differ from the other methods in TTBS / OSH Act?

Scope, qualification and evidence are method-specific, so the differences are real rather than administrative. TTBS / OSH Act also covers UT, PAUT, TOFD, RT, MT, and each carries its own procedure, its own personnel qualification and its own equipment evidence.

Personnel certification for VT

Employer-based certification is accepted for NDT, and is dominant. There is no local ISO 9712 certification body, and TTLABS does not accredit personnel certification bodies, so technicians hold employer certification written against ASNT SNT-TC-1A, the norm across the US-influenced petrochemical estate, or PCN and other ISO 9712 certificates issued in the UK. An outsourced Level III can write and sign the written practice, approve procedures and certify Level I and II staff. The statutory boiler and pressure-vessel examination is a separate and stricter matter: it requires a licence from the Minister plus personal independence from the equipment's owner, and no NDT certification substitutes for it.