Up Time Magazine- April/May 2008 - (Page 64) The solution is simple and affordable: awareness training. It may only take a half-day presentation, but if you can take everyone through a presentation on maintenance practices and condition monitoring technologies, and demonstrate that it really works, and sell the benefits of reliability, and show how each person can play an important role in the process, and show that you are not out to prove they are making mistakes – then you will have a far more successful program. Certification Certification has a long and colorful history. Over the years almost all of the vibration analysis vendors, and even some of the training companies, had come up with their own proprietary ‘standard’ for certification. In short, they developed a training curriculum and exam that designated whether a person was Level I, II or III. Broadly speaking, people in the industry knew what it meant to be Level I versus II or III. Employers could make some assessment about the skills of a new hire based on the course(s) they had attended and the “certification” level they had achieved. Having the exam at the end of the course also served as a way for the employer to make sure the analyst paid attention during the course. There is no doubt that most people are highly motivated to pass the exam; salaries can be based on the certification level achieved, and personal pride forces most people to try to get the best result. In the past there were two certification “standards” that could be used as a way to compare analysts in an unbiased way. The US Vibration Institute (VI) developed a course curriculum and exams. VI has since switched to the ISO standards, which I will discuss in a moment. The American Society of Non-destructive Testing (ASNT) developed a “Recommended Practice” for various non-destructive testing disciplines, including vibration analysis. The Recommended Practice described three levels of training, and described how the exams should be developed. Third-party companies, such as my own company, could create a “Written Practice” to demonstrate how we followed the ASNT “SNT-TC-1A” Recommended Practice. The Recommended Practice is designed for companies that wish to ensure that their employees can perform their jobs Figure 9 - ASNT SNT-TC-1A Recommended Practice and ISO 18436-2:2003 correctly; whether that involves inspection of welds or vibration analysis. The company can either conduct the training and/or testing in-house, under their own Written Practice, or they can include an external training and/or certification body in their Written Practice if they are unable to provide those services inhouse. What that means is that when you are certified under the ASNT, you are only certified while you work for that employer. In late 2003 the ISO released the international standard ISO 18436 for “Condition monitoring and diagnostics of machines — Requirements for training and certification of personnel”. Part 2 of the standard is for “Vibration condition monitoring and diagnostics”. This standard changed everything. Now the whole world could unite behind one standard. In summary, the standard covers the topics that should be taught in the course, the requirements for certified analysts, and the content and structure of the exams. The Vibration Institute switched over to this new international standard; my company developed new courses and certification procedures to follow this standard; and other organizations around the world have done the same thing. Employer Benefits There are two main benefits: standardization and compliance. When a vibration analyst makes a recommendation to remove a bearing from a machine (or that the bearings will not fail before the next shut-down) a great deal rides on that recommendation. If you stop production to remove the bearings and upon further inspection you conclude that the bearing would have easily survived until the next planned shut-down; what has it cost you? Or conversely, if the bearing fails before the next shut-down, contrary to the advice given by the analyst, what has it cost you? Yes, those costs can be significant! There are potentially great financial costs, but one’s pride, confidence and employment prospects can take a hit too… It can be said that if the analyst had been correctly trained, as discussed earlier in this article, then perhaps this would have never happened. But certification provides a means to qualify employees, new hires, and especially consultants. It is very important to know how new hires and contractors have been trained, and how they are certified. Many companies around the world are adopting the ISO standards as the yardstick for training and certification. Employment and contract projects are dependent on certification. There is also talk of the ISO standards being The Benefits of Certification The benefits of certification can be looked at from two perspectives; the employer’s and the employee’s. 64 april/may 2008
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