Accredited by Cofrac (Comité français d'accréditation) for personnel certification activities to EN ISO 9712 (Non-destructive testing - Qualification and certification of NDT personnel), Cofrend is constantly adapting its systems to meet technological developments and the needs of industry. In terms of certification, there are many announcements for 2021.
Interview with Vivian Didier (EDF), Chairman of Cofrend's Certification and Qualification Division.
What new certifications does Cofrend offer?
Conventional methods such as radiography, ultrasonics, dye penetrant testing, magnetic particle testing, eddy current testing and leak testing are robust methods for which we are constantly seeking to improve the way we carry out our tests. In addition to all this, we are always ready to listen to the needs of industry and our members, in order to develop devices that meet needs not yet covered by Cofrend. For example, we are now in a position to offer new certification in the field of multi-element ultrasound (UT Phased Array), a current technique for which France had no certification. Thanks to the hard work of the sectoral committee concerned, the CIFM (Comité sectoriel fabrication & maintenance), Cofrend can offer this certification as early as 2021. The documentation, the procedure and everything concerning the examination questionnaire for level 2 and 3 certifications are ready. This is an important piece of work, which I welcome, and which the profession has been waiting for. Approved examination centers have already applied to be audited and obtain Cofrend approval to cover this new method.
Are other NDT methods concerned by new certifications?
We also set out to develop certification for direct visual examination, whereas the standard we have to apply, ISO 9712, specifies that only indirect visual examinations are covered by certification. We realized that there was a real industrial need in France in this field. The CCPM (Comité de certification des produits métalliques) is in charge of this issue. It is in the process of creating direct visual certification for all metal products. We're going to create a special reference system that will enable us to offer manufacturers a certification based on the ISO 9712 model, but which cannot claim to be a certification based on this reference system, since it does not offer it. We are also responding to a strong demand from industry by creating a restricted certification for radiogram interpretation. As our professions evolve, there is a need to specialize in the interpretation and analysis of silver films, in order to identify compliant and non-compliant defects. In addition, we have decided to offer a new certification enabling us to offer examinations involving digital radiography. Digital X-ray equipment is now available, with results equivalent to those of silver X-rays. Sectors such as aeronautics are using these new technologies. We hope to be able to offer our members the opportunity to assess their inspectors' skills in this area. Another important point: the CFCM (Comité ferroviaire de certification pour la maintenance) has also upgraded its certification to take account of regulatory developments in this field at European level.
Can you tell us about the new approved test center in Montbard, Burgundy?
The Centre d'examen agréé Ifat Feignies (SAS CEM) submitted a request two years ago for an examination center in Montbard, specifically reserved for the metallurgy sector. This examination center was created and audited. Today, it is accredited to cover part of the certification process, which can now be relocated to the Montbard region. Manufacturers in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region needed to be geographically close by to be able to have their inspectors take exams, as they previously had to travel to Feignies in the Haut-de-France region, in particular to cover the tube sector. This is a good thing: it facilitates transport, reduces overall costs and the expenses inherent in agent travel.
Is it also possible to take stock of personnel approvals for pressure equipment?
Please note: this is no longer a certification issue. To clarify the situation, Cofrend, the only certification body authorized by the French administration to issue approvals for personnel working on pressure equipment, according to the PED, was asked by Abendi, its equivalent in Brazil, to approve certified personnel. As part of the application of the European Pressure Equipment Directive, Cofrend was able to respond favorably. We felt, at the level of the certification division, that it could be interesting to position ourselves on these services, especially since the Brexit, since there are a huge number of manufacturers who had their personnel approved by English bodies. Cofrend has drawn up procedures that now make it possible to offer personnel approval to countries wishing to have inspection personnel approved for inspections of pressure equipment likely to be sold and put into service in Europe. Discussions have already begun with Portugal and Russia. This is a completely new activity for Cofrend. We were not previously involved in these matters.
Can you tell us more about the 9712 standard?
Standard 9712 is the international standard which specifies all the provisions which must be implemented and complied with in order to reliably and validly conduct certification exams wherever it is applied in the world, regardless of the country in which controllers sit their exams. Once it has been taken as a reference, the standard's requirements cannot be reduced. However, they can be increased. This is the case in France: there are a few fields for which Cofrend is a little more demanding than standard 9712, without going very far, so as not to raise the bar higher in France than in other countries. Work on revising the standard has been somewhat delayed by the health crisis, but the new version will nevertheless enter into force very shortly, with a number of important modifications. In fact, France was one of the proponents of the new possibilities, which have now been validated. This offers a much more pragmatic vision of how to maintain agents' skills. Rather than inviting agents to take an examination to renew their certification, manufacturers will be able to choose to support a dossier of points credits, enabling them to provide documented proof of their agents' continuing competence. I'm convinced that for the majority of French manufacturers, this will provide real flexibility, especially as files are already drawn up when companies are ISO 9001 certified.
What about the introduction of dematerialized files for certification?
We use Gericco, a Cofrend certification management tool, which now incorporates the needs of the aeronautical sector. We have upgraded this software to enable us to offer online registration of certification files, while still offering the possibility of completing these files in paper format. Dematerialization enables us to process files more optimally: to track agents' certification, from registration through to validation of their certification once they have passed their exams.
What other subjects are you currently working on?
We must never sit on our laurels, and always keep an eye on the future. At Cofrend, we constantly question the relevance of our certification system. We keep a watchful eye on everything that might be useful to our customers and certification users, so as to keep pace with what's happening in the industrial environment. By way of example, we're keeping a close eye on an increasingly important industrial field: additive manufacturing. Some of these processes are no longer part of conventional industrial practice. This raises the question of whether today's industrial inspection methods are still relevant for detecting manufacturing deviations, which would translate into defects in the material. With these developments in manufacturing, it's worth looking into whether special certifications would enable us to trap manufacturing drifts resulting from these new processes. We are also keeping a very active watch on the subject of industrial tomography. Industrial tomography is a technique or practice that is gaining considerable momentum, particularly in the aeronautics sector. The idea would be to establish, should the industrial need be confirmed, a certification for radiography generated by tomographic technique (evaluation of parts in three dimensions).
Civil engineering also seems to be awaiting certification. What's the latest?
That's right. A new sector committee was set up this year: the Civil Engineering Committee, chaired by Bernard Quénée. It will start work this autumn to establish the body of documentation it needs to comply with ISO standard 9712. A group of experts has been appointed to draw up a questionnaire that will be used for exam evaluation. Certification will thus be created, probably by the end of 2022. Initially, it will cover specific techniques and methods for diagnosing concrete infrastructures using radar waves and low-frequency eddy currents.
Cofrend 2020 certification assessment
As every year, Cofrend publishes a report on its certification activities. We invite you to visit our website to access the full report.
Among the main findings, we note a drop in the number of certificates issued in 2020 (3807) compared to 2019 (4225). This decrease, more marked in the steel sector (tube production in particular), is explained by the Covid crisis. Similarly, this crisis has had an impact on the number of first-time certifiers, down to 1,433 in 2020 from 1,674 the previous year. In terms of certified methods, penetrant testing is still at the top of the ranking, accounting for over a third of certifications. Cofrend concludes its assessment as follows: "In 2020, the highlight was the drop in business due to the exceptional sanitary conditions we experienced, and the uncertainty over the coming months and years. However, new projects will come to fruition, enabling Cofrend to diversify and offer new services to its customers and members."
The statistics presented in this document are based on data extracted from Gericco, the Cofrend certification management tool. This tool is constantly updated by Cofrend Approved Exam Centers as candidates register and take their exams. EN4179 qualifications have been validated by Afenda Fr ANDTB since December 6, 2017. Data related to qualification exams according to EN 4179 are provided by Afenda and are presented on page 4.