Certification can be confusing in the world of infrared! I'm more interested in QUALIFICATION. I believe that is based on appropriate training, qualifying experience and demonstration of performance (testing). The American Society for Nondestructive Testing (ASNT) and the International Standards Organization (ISO) say the same thing and have standards against which thermographers can be certified. Certification, stated simply, is written testimony of qualification.
Trouble arose because several training companies long ago took it upon themselves to "certify" thermographers. I wish I could say folks who complete our training are fully qualified. Typically they are not! We get them ready to get qualifying experience (and send them off in the right direction knowing how to avoid big mistakes). There are few (very few!) legal requirements for certification.
Many thermographers and their employers take this route to certification thinking "IR must be easy" and "Why not, this is fast." The end result is that many people out there who say they are certified are not really qualified. Results are mixed, some good and some very poor.
ASNT has described what a person needs to be qualified in IR, including the education needed, the field experience required and the way they can be tested to insure consistent, high-quality results. I can send you a document that discusses all of that. Our training fully complies with these standards, as does the training of several other companies.
Setting up a certification program in your company that fully complies with ASNT is not difficult. After a person is qualified (by training, experience and testing), it is the company that actually certifies them. ASNT certification has worked well for over 65 years in 12 test methods and it works well for infrared.
If you have any questions I can answer, feel free to post them here and/or call me anytime. I'll do my best to answer them honestly and factually.
If I can be of further assistance, please feel free to contact me.
John Snell
Snell Infrared