Whilst TWI Certification Ltd (TWI CL) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the TWI Group, in the interests of managing confidentiality and conflict of interest during certification decision making, it is run separately from TWI Ltd, with its own governing board and an independent quality management route.
These differences in operation are in place to ensure that full adherence to standards for personnel and manufacturer certification is both possible and clearly auditable. The certification standards to which TWI CL is accredited by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) also demand that certification is openly available to clients and, as such, certification is provided to clients who are not TWI Members, either Industrial Members or Professional Members.
TWI CL certification schemes provide assurance of competence that enables all employers to comply with regulations, standards and specifications in manufacture, fabrication or repair. Open access to TWI CL products is not only necessary for certification standards compliance, but also ensures that the schemes are available to support your clients and suppliers, wherever they may be.
This wide availability of internationally-recognised, industry-led, and effective competence assurance schemes assists in mitigating risks and assuring product quality throughout the global supply chain.
The separate management system and open access to certification are in no way meant to present a barrier between TWI CL and Members of TWI. The governing board, the Certification Management Board (CMB), reports its activities to TWI’s Council to ensure that Industrial and Professional Members are aware of the certification schemes being delivered and developed. The CMB and its subordinate Management Committees are populated largely by representatives of Industrial Member companies, and many of the members are also Professional Members of The Welding Institute.
The industry focus of TWI CL certification schemes is not only invested in its board and committee membership, as customer requirements are also captured within the research and technology activities of TWI Ltd and fed through into training and competence assurance solutions.
This customer requirements capture can bring forward competence or compliance challenges presented by operational or technical change in industry, or can recognise emerging training and competence assurance needs due to the development and introduction of new technology.
One notable example of requirements capture occurred during a project to develop an inspection technique for a high integrity joint with a particularly challenging geometry. The TWI Ltd Single Client Project developed a phased array ultrasonic testing (PAUT) solution and verified its performance to satisfy the client need. A bespoke training course was then developed to ensure that the client’s NDT operators were able to apply the technique effectively.
With additional calls from industry to support the introduction of PAUT, this employer-specific training was then developed into a generic training course for phased array ultrasonic NDT operators and expanded to satisfy all of the requirements for the EN 473 and ISO 9712 standards for qualification and certification of NDT personnel. A certification requirement was developed within the CSWIP certification scheme for NDT personnel to generate the assessment and certification criteria. The Welding Specialist and Practitioner Management Committee reviewed and approved the scheme document, the assessment process and the training materials before recommending full approval to the CMB.
Once the TWI CL extension to scope had been assessed and approved by UKAS, the CSWIP scheme for certification of NDT personnel in manual and encoded phased array ultrasonic inspection was launched.
This ability to exploit the knowledge and expertise gained in industry-focused research and technology in developing and delivering industry-focused competence assurance solutions is a key benefit for Industrial Members. The inclusion of TWI CL in the TWI Group provides you with not just a stakeholder interest in an internationally recognised certification body, with specialist knowledge and capability in your sector, but also provides you with influence over products and services that are directly relevant to your compliance requirements.
CSWIP certification of personnel sets the standard for rôle-specific competence assurance. If you have a rôle that requires competence assurance, please let us know so that we can discuss your certification requirements with you.
Eur Ing Chris Eady BSc(Hons) MSc CEng MRAeS FWeldI
Chief Executive TWI Certification Ltd
