Certification of thermographers

Issues concerning the certification of thermographers continue to command a great deal of interest within our profession and among the customers we serve. A recent literature search suggests the topic is as poorly understood as ever. In the United States the only viable means of establishing certification is through compliance, to one degree or another, with the standards and guidelines of the American Society for Nondestructive Testing (ASNT). These means, which, interestingly, also serve well the needs of ten additional NDT methods, are widely recognized throughout much of the rest of the world. Unfortunately for thermographers and their customers, ASNT-compliant certification for our NDT method has failed to gain significant "traction" over the years despite being used by a number of large companies and for many critical applications. The reasons are numerous and diverse. However, the gap has also not been filled by any other viable means of certification. One of the consequences of our failure to embrace uniform, meaningful certification is that our impact has been inconsistent and falls far short of the optimum possible. The framework for qualifying and certifying thermographers still exists, ready, as it has been since 1992, to be filled and used effectively in all applications.