Industrial application of the NDT method is a requirement before certification can be awarded. If you are working for a company using the method, it is a case of logging this experience and having this verified by your supervisor or if you are working on a contract as self-employed it can be signed by the contract client (Note: NDT certification schemes often require that the person verifying your experience holds the same NDT method and level of qualification themselves).
The experience duration needs to match the minimum requirements as detailed by the certification scheme documents, these can be found on the scheme websites (e.g. CSWIP or BINDT).
Yes, for those not working for a company or on a contract that is using the NDT method a 2-year period is normally given after the examination date to send your experience verification to the scheme body. For further advice please do not hesitate to contact us, however, this applies only to Levels 1 and 2.
We normally advise candidates to start with a surface inspection such as penetrant inspection (PT) or magnetic particle (MT), however if a candidate already has NDT experience in another method, we would perhaps suggest sitting the course in that particular method. Generally you should aim to achieve at least 2 surface inspection methods and what we call a volumetric inspection method such as radiography or ultrasonic testing.
Unfortunately any experience claimed must be in the same NDT discipline, however, for visual testing (VT) a welding inspection certificate may contribute towards the EN ISO 9712 visual testing (VT) experience requirement for the welds sector.