Employer-Based Certification
Employer-based certification is an NDT qualification model under SNT-TC-1A or CP-189 in which the employer issues the certificate based on a documented written practice, and the certificate is not portable to another employer.
Definition
Employer-based certification dominates the United States and much of Asia. It is faster and lower-cost than central certification but ties the inspector's qualification to a specific employer.
Related terms
- Central Certification Body — A central certification body is an independent organization accredited under ISO 17024 that administers third-party NDT personnel certification per ISO 9712, conducting examinations and issuing certificates that are portable between employers.
- SNT-TC-1A — ASNT SNT-TC-1A is the recommended practice for personnel qualification and certification in nondestructive testing, defining an employer-based certification model in which the employer issues a written practice and qualifies its own personnel using ASNT-recomm
- ASNT CP-189 — ASNT CP-189 is the standard for qualification and certification of NDT personnel that mandates (rather than recommends) requirements — including a minimum 30-question general examination from an ASNT-furnished question pool — making it the most rigorous employ
- Written Practice — A written practice is an employer-issued documented procedure required by SNT-TC-1A and CP-189 that defines training, experience, examination, and recertification requirements specific to that employer for each NDT method and level.
More certification terms
NDT Level I · NDT Level II · NDT Level III · Recertification · Qualification vs. Certification · Sensory Acuity Examination · Near-Vision Test · Color-Vision Test · Jaeger J1 · Jaeger J2
Where this comes up in practice
Terms like this one appear in three places that matter commercially: the written practice that governs how your personnel are qualified, the procedures and technique sheets that define how an examination is actually performed, and the evidence an auditor or client asks for when they want to know why an inspection was accepted. Getting the terminology right is the easy part; being able to produce the qualification record, the calibration traceability and the procedure revision that applied on the day of the inspection is the part that decides audits.
Atlantis NDT provides NDT training and certification against ASNT SNT-TC-1A and ISO 9712, ASNT Level III consulting for written practices and procedure approval, inspection management software that holds qualification, calibration and procedure-revision evidence in recoverable form, and an asset integrity platform that binds inspection results to the asset they describe. Browse the full NDT glossary or ask a Level III directly.