ACCREDITATION OF NON DESTRUCTIVE TESTING & VARIANCES IN ASIA PACIFIC REGION 1 Sajeesh Kumar BABU, Vinodh Kumar BABU, Ronny ANDALAS

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1 ACCREDITATION OF NON DESTRUCTIVE TESTING & VARIANCES IN ASIA PACIFIC REGION 1 Sajeesh Kumar BABU, Vinodh Kumar BABU, Ronny ANDALAS 1.Hon Secretary, NDTSS, Singapore, skbabu@ndtss.org.sg 2. Director, WENS Quality Assurance Pvt. Ltd, vkumar@wensgroup.com 3. Director, Yayasan Pendidikan IKBAL M YOS, ronny.andalas@ikbalmyos.com ABSTRACT: Non Destructive Testing plays a vital role in the quality control of a product/process in various applications. As the Industries are seeking quality assured NDT Services,Growing need of Accredited Non Destructive testing services are in common within Construction, Utilities, Petrochemical, and Oil & Gas industry. Although Accreditation plays an important role in the globalization & free trade, the variances in its practice would jeopardize the free trade and would need testing/inspection at the manufacturer & at customer to satisfy the regulatory requirements. This papers aims to review the various accreditation systems operated by national accreditation body in the field of Non Destructive Testing & discuss the variances in accreditation requirements adopted by Accreditation bodies. Accreditation bodies could produce the common technical criteria or guidelines in the field of non -destructive testing accreditation which would narrow the gap of such variances. VARIATION IN MANAGEMENT SYSTEM: In general most of the CAB s chose ISO/IEC as an accreditation standard; some countries choose ISO/IEC as an accreditation standard. To gain accreditation as a laboratory or inspection body the organization should have a stong quality management system in line with one of this international standard. Generally there will be Quality manual, set of mandatory procedures, system forms, and quality system records. The assessors not only review the system criteria but apply greater emphasis on technical criteria. Each country has its own way of reviewing the technical requirement.in order to gain accreditation the below table summarizes the management system adopted by accredited organization in various countries in the region. Country Member States Australia Peoples Republic of China Hong Kong India Indonesia Japan South Korea Malaysia National Accreditation Body NATA CNAS HKAS-HOKLAS NABL KAN JAB KOLAS SM-LAB/MIBAS ISO/IEC 17025:2005 ISO/IEC 17020

2 Singapore Thailand United States of America SAC-SINGLAS BLA-DSS A2LA Table 1: Standard used for Accreditation It is obvious most of the accredited laboratories are conducting Nondestructive to ISO/IEC 17025, some countries as seen on the table 1 are conducting NDT to ISO/IEC 17020, which is basically an inspection body scheme, the IB scheme eliminate the uncertainty element hence some countries utilize this standard AREA OF ACCREDITATION: In General each countries got their own requirements to detail the area of accreditation in Nondestructive Testing, the below table would give us an idea of the area of accreditation followed by individual member countries Country/ National Accreditation Body Field of Accreditation Member States Australia NATA Non Destructive Testing Remarks Peoples Republic of China CNAS Non Destructive Testing However sometimes NDT is classified under products Steel, weld, metallic materials Hong Kong HKAS-HOKLAS Construction Materials NDT Test is classified under products India NABL Non Destructive Testing Indonesia KAN Inspection Field NDT Methods listed for various products South Korea KOLAS Non Destructive Testing Malaysia MIBAS Non Destructive Testing Singapore SAC-SINGLAS Non Destructive Testing Thailand BLA-DSS Non Destructive Testing United States of America A2LA Non Destructive Testing Table 2: Classification of Area of Accreditation

3 TEST STANDARDS FOR NON DESTRUCTIVE TESTING: NDT is applied to most of the materials & industry. NDT applies broad based standards from the American (ASTM) to European ISO Standards (EN ISO), the testing criteria, personnel and equipment varies widely to both the schemes. In order to have complete traceability, all the elements needs to be followed to the root of the standard. In practice some of the accrediting bodies are not following the traceability to the standard. For e. g requirement of EN 473/ISO9712 personnel certification for EN/ISO standards, allowing employer based certification for European standards, although the standard requires third party certification. Not calibrating the equipment s to EN requirements for the testing performed in accordance with EN standards (e.g Ultrasonic flaw detectors). Technical assessors may go through specific requirements by the standard in evaluating laboratories. REQUIREMENTS FOR PERSONNEL CERTIFICATION: The below table compares the requirement laid down by accreditation bodies for NDT Testing professional which is moving towards central or third party certification. Country / Member State Accrediting Body Acceptable Standard for Personnel Certification Australia NATA Specified Third Party Certification Peoples Republic of China CNAS Not Specified ( In General ASNT/ChsNDT certification) Hong Kong HKAS-HOKLAS Specified Third Party Certification (PCN/ACCP or Equivalent) India NABL Specified Third Party (ISNT) & In house certification Indonesia KAN Specified Third Party Certification ( EN473/ISO9712 /Equivalent) Malaysia MIBAS Specified Certified to DSD (MHR)/ISO9712/EN473 Singapore SAC-SINGLAS Specified Third party certification for Signatory & employer based certification for operators United States of America A2LA Not Specified, Left to Application Standard Table 3 General Personnel requirements

4 SPECIFIC PERSONNEL REQUIREMENTS FOR SIGNATORIES & OPERATORS The below table lists the specific requirements for personnel signing the test reports and operators performing the test at site or laboratory, Approved Signatory NATA - Australia ISO 9712 Level 3 SNT TC-1A Level 3 ( provided managed by testing body & audited externally by ISO 9712 holder) Operator ISO 9712 Level 2 SNT TC-1A Level 2 ( provided managed by testing body & audited externally by ISO 9712 holder) Qualifications recognized by Client Hong Kong - HOKLAS Person holding a valid certificate of Level 3 issued by recognized certification scheme (e.g PCN /ACCP /Equivalent) Person holding a valid certificate of Level 2 issued by recognized certification scheme (e.g PCN /ACCP /Equivalent) Singapore - SINGLAS China - CNAL India - NABL ASNT level 3, ACCP Level 2 & 3, AINDT Level 2 & 3, PCN Level 2& 3, CSWIP Level 2&3 ChsNDT / ASNT Level 3 or equivalent ISNT/ASNT qualification No Level specified, Technical officer shall possess science /Engg graduate & should have capability to possess Level III Qualification recognized by client, generally SNT-TC-1A PAUT External Certification Trained & Competent ISNT/ASNT qualification Level II Malaysia-MIBAS No Specific Requirement Qualified and certified by the NCB (DSD, MHR), Independent body certified to ISO 9712/EN473 Indonesia For KAN approved signatories, they shall be those independently certified issued by a recognized certification bodies in Non-Destructive Testing (Personnel Certification NDT Level 3) SNI equivalent to ISO 9712 or EN 473 or of a standard that can be demonstrated to be equivalent to these standards are acceptable to KAN Table 4: Specific Personnel Requirements

5 EQUIPMENT & CALIBRATION REQUIREMENTS: The equipment & calibration requirements vary across the member states towards the local client needs and application needs. It would be difficult to harmonize the calibration requirements of every single tools used in Non Destructive Test. However major measuring equipment s should have a universal requirement of Calibration, the below table provides some of the best practices followed in the industry. Ultrasonic Testing Equipment Type Frequency Ultrasonic Flaw detector Competent Laboratory ( Accredited /NMI) ASTME1324/EN12668 Reference Test Blocks Competent Laboratory ( Accredited /NMI) 2 years 8 Years Field Working Blocks ( Block 1 (V1), Block 2 (V2), DAC Etc Competent Laboratory ( Accredited /NMI) In house Initial 1 year Probes & Sensory Elements In house Each time prior to use Radiographic Testing Focal Spot Densitometer In house Standard test method In house- Using Traceable density strip 1 year 90 days Surface NDT Methods MT/PT/VT Light Intensity Magnetization Powders / Magnetic Ink Using calibrated light meter ( 1 year) or using external checked Lamp Yoke Ammeter Field Strength meter Gauss meter Solid content, contaminants, function (ISO 9934 block) Before test 90 days ( Lifting weight) Yearly Yearly Yearly Batch test

6 Table 5: Calibration Requirements CONCLUSION Here with we could conclude that there is a broad differences in the practice of Non -destructive testing accreditation criteria within the region. A regional guideline for accreditation for Non Destructive laboratories would be essential to bridge the gaps in practices. These guidelines would be helpful for peer assessment within accreditation bodies to improve cross border trade & acceptance of test reports in Asia pacific region. The below are some recommendation could be listed in the guideline Accreditation Standard Implement ISO as the standard of accreditation, Area of Accreditation A separate area for NON DESTRUCIVE TESTING should be available Auditing Practices Improvement of Auditing practices to achieve full lot traceability to American or ISO standards or National Standards. Personnel Certification Operators test to American standard should obtain ASNT Level II + SNT TC 1A Level II or ACCP Level II or ISO 9712 Level II Operators to ISO / European standards should be certified to EN ISO 9712, the same applies to Signatory, certified to Level III. Equipment/Calibration- Recommendation for Equipment calibration should be made available in the guideline. Uncertainty Estimation- Model for Uncertainty calculation for NDT Measurements. REFERENCES 1. The American Association for Laboratory Accreditation R212 Specific Requirements: Nondestructive Testing Laboratory Accreditation program 2. NATA Publication Supplementary Requirements for accreditation July HOKLAS Supplementary Criteria No.15-Construction Material Test Category-Accreditation of Non destructive test for (1)- Steel and Metal. (2)- Welding of Steel and Metal 4. NABL- Specific Criteria for Non Destructive Testing Laboratories NABL Singapore Laboratory Accreditation Scheme Publication- Technical Notes (NDT 001, NDT002, NDT 003) 6. KAN Requirement for Accreditation of Inspection bodies performing NDT (KAN-R-LI-07) 7. Standards Malaysia -SC 1.5- Specific Criteria for Accreditation of Mechanical Testing & NDT 8. Standards Malayisa-MTR2- MIBAS Technical Requirements for Accreditation for Non Destructive Testing