The way to my certificate

THE WAY TO MY DIN EN 473 CERTIFICATE
 

There are good reasons for being able to furnish proof of one’s qualifications. Industry attaches great importance to safety and non-destructive testing is an absolutely essential means of ensuring that plants, components and buildings are safe. People working in the non-destructive testing field must be able to furnish proof of their qualifications and keep their skills up to the state of the art.

 
To provide basic training, DIN EN 473 lays down training courses relating to the various methods. These courses are designed to give theoretical and practical instruction, on the one hand, in the scientific fundamentals and, on the other hand, in the commonlyused technologies and their areas of application.

 
The successful completion of a qualifying examination shows that the candidate has understood the knowledge conveyed and is also able to apply it in practice. You are given confirmation of this in the form of a preliminary examination certificate. This preliminary certificate, however, does not constitute the certificate proper. An application for the latter has to be made to a certification authority, e.g. SECTOR Cert, providing the following conditions are met:

 
• The candidate has attended a training course conducted according to DIN EN 473 specifications.

• The candidate has successfully passed a qualifying examination.

• The candidate has professional experience according to the criteria of DIN EN 473.

 
The fact that the certificate is valid for a limited period of time and its restriction to one method, one level and a given sector ensures that the person is qualified for the task set and undergoes regular advanced training in new technologies and with regard to new regulations.

 
With SECTOR Cert-certified personnel you convey an impression of safety, quality and meticulousness – and you do that worldwide, for our examinations have the same standard of difficulty wherever we operate. This is something SECTOR Cert guarantees.

Proof of recognized training

For certification purposes, proof must be furnished that a recognized training course has been completed in the test method and at the level for which certification is required (DIN EN 473, subsection 6.2). The minimum requirements to be met by the training course are defined in DIN EN 473, Table 2.

 
Proof of professional experience

At least 10% of the candidate’s required professional experience has to have been demonstrably acquired prior to the qualifying examination. The minimum requirements in respect of periods of professional experience for certification are shown in DIN EN 473, Table 3.

 
The candidate’s employer must confirm the periods of professional experience in the certification application. If you are self-employed, please submit a copy of your trading licence. If the candidate aims to obtain additional certification in the sphere regulated by law (Pressure Equipment Directive / PED), proof of experience of nondestructive testing involving pressure equipment during the last five years has to be furnished. The candidate’s employer must also confirm this in the application for certification.

 
Physical suitability

In accordance with DIN EN 473, Section 6.4, a medical certificate documenting the candidate’s satisfactory eyesight (visual acuity test) has to be issued annually by an optician, eye specialist or any other medicallyrecognized person and then submitted to the candidate’s employer. An examination must establish

 a) whether the candidate’s near vision is adequate to enable him or her to read the Jaeger No. 1 letter or Times Roman N 4.5 or an equivalent optical character (height 1.6 mm) from a distance of not less than 30 cm with at least one eye, with or without a seeing aid.
b) whether the candidate’s colour vision is adequate to enable him or her to detect contrasts between colours or different shades of grey and to distinguish between the colours or shades of grey used in the non-destructive testing methods concerned, as laid down by the candidate’s employer.