Thermal Home Inspection Nashville, Tn.


Inspectors that casually claim they are “Certified” in any discipline are often referring to a certificate that similarly equates to a Boy Scout Merit Badge.

Use caution when “Certified” is used in describing a service being provided to you.

The following is a reminder by Jim Seffrin:

Infraspection Institute Monthly Newsletter - February 2013
jim@infraspection.com

Volume 2 Issue 2 February 2013

David, I agree that ASNT does not certify thermographers. However the individual training facilities do not certify them either. My certificate from Snell, for example, says that I completed a comprehensive 32 hours course of study in IR thermography presented by Snell and conforming to the guidelines of the ASNT. So if you drop the word “certified” can you say that you are ASNT complied Level I thermographer?

No, You received/completed ASNT certified training (unlike “Certified Infrared Training”) from Snell.

This is what you may have to concern yourself with:

The US Army Corps of Engineers (***“Core” ***of Engineers for Mr. Obama) “Standards” requirement…

This is a compliance to standard, not about your Claim of “Certification”.

From your website:

No, you are not.

No, you can say that you received a ASNT certified training from Snell (unlike “certified infrared training from John McKenna”).

The only thing you need to concern yourself concerning being “certified” is when you get something like this from the Army Corps of Engineers (that’s “core” for Mr. Obama)!

See, even the Army Corps of Engineers doesn’t get it right!

From your website:

No, you are not.

OK. Then explain please what is the difference between ASNT certified training from Snell and ITC certified Level I. If my training from Snell is conforming to ASNT level I training then I don’t see the difference. Again lets not concentrate on the word “certified” since not ASNT, not ITC and not Snell certifies thermographers.

ASNT **does **certify thermographers!
But you must be a level III (Mr. Seffrin says also some level II).

What difference are you talking about?
The ASNT certification is a certification for the educational curriculum, not to certify the students who complete the course.

I don’t understand what you’re talking about. If for not concentrating on the word “certified” what are we talking about here?

The only thing I can see that you’re getting at is if you take level I , II , and III from Snell and those courses are not ASNT certified, then you cannot become ASNT certified!?

The courses can be different in content but the way they are set up complies with ASNT certification requirements.

If you take a course for level I (not ASNT standards) and you want to take level II with Infraspection, you don’t meet the prerequisite requirements (Not that you can jump from one provider to another anyway…).

In the real world, there’s no reason for a home inspector to be ASNT certified. This is for preventative and predictive maintenance programs in-house for manufacturing plants which is not within the scope of home inspection. People like to put all over their websites that they are allegedly qualified to do all kinds of stuff, but in reality they’re not qualified at all.

So in really, I don’t know where this conversation is taking us except for the fact that people that claim they are certified thermographers, are not necessarily certified.

David, I did not want to get into any argument about the validity of someone’s certification. I simply asked you a question in response to your post of how the IR thermography certification works. There is no doubt that a fancy wallet ID card tells very little about actual qualifications of the individual thermographer. However if someone takes a course of studies from a recognized training provider that fully complies with the standards of the ASNT for Level I be it Snell or Infraspection, this **basic **certification can be used for marketing purposes with no hesitation. I fully agree with you that it is inappropriate to say that someone is level I or II ASNT certified, especially because ASNT themseves give a definition of certification as a “written testimony of qualification”. However it is fully appropriate to state that someone is ITC level I or Snell IR level I certified if the course that was taken is Level I or II certification course that complies with the standards of the ASNT. Just MHO, of course.

Who’s arguing?!
I started this thread. You’re the one drifting it.

My point was:

If you feel that you must be “certified” than that is all well and good, but the point of this conversation is that there is “certification” and there is “certification”.

Clients should beware of what “certification” means pertaining to the person they’re talking to.

What does this mean?

  1. You have attended the entire class.
  2. Yet passed the quizzes and exams with a composite score of 75%.
  3. You have submitted an acceptable field assignment.

Seeing as you own your own company, can you can certify yourself!?

Yes, However this requires that you demonstrate skill, knowledge, documented training and “documented experience”.

Have a written practice as a company that documents:

  1. Details what is required to be level one, two or three.
  2. Usually incorporates formal training and continuing education/training.
  3. Defines the roles and responsibilities for each level.

Do you have this documentation on file?
Do you have level III certification to certify yourself is a level I?

Certification by an outside agency is a statement that you meet industry acceptable standards for a particular level of skill and knowledge. If you are going to call yourself a certified level I thermographer doing NDT or PdM and do not hold ASNT Certification, are you not implying that you are when you call yourself certified?

This is all really a bunch of mumbo-jumbo when it comes to home inspectors doing thermal imaging (which does not currently have ASNT certification). The point of the conversation is that we freely use “certification” when in fact the only thing certified on your little wallet card is that you to completed the formal training requirements. It does not say that you have or maintain a specific written practice, nor that you have the experience requirements to actually call yourself “certified”.

So I maintain that you project yourself not as being certified but as having completed a certified course at a specified level.

I think you maybe mixing up the meaning of “certified” with “qualifed”. It seems to me that we are talking about the same category but since we are not arguing with your permission I will leave it here.:slight_smile:

This came right from ITC/Flir.

My first post came right from Infraspection.

Go back to your Snell Lvl I manual or I can send you mine if “the largest trainer in the world” didn’t cover this in your class.

Your training makes you partly “qualified” to be “certified”.