The Chairman’s Report:  The Mandate to Regulate

What a tough year it has been for the world due to the pandemic. South Africa just like the rest of the world was forced to adapt to a new way of living and carrying out daily tasks.

This past year has been led by the efforts to have NDT included into the Pressure Equipment Regulation (PER) in attempt to at least have a foot in the regulation of NDT.  The (SAINT Professional Body for Nondestructive Testing) SPBNDT was engaged with the Department of Employment and Labour (DOEL) as the custodians of the PER, in attempt to write in the requirements for NDT into the PER. The engagement with the DOEL opened up doors to discussions for SPBNDT to stand as the official regulator of NDT in South Africa.

Several meetings were held with various industry stakeholders including DOEL to consult with industry on the mandate that was about to be given to the SPBNDT to regulate NDT in South Africa. Part of those discussions was the relinquishing of SPBNDT from the South African Institute for Non-destructive Testing (SAINT) to stand as an impartial independent body. SPBNDT had to also undergo a name change (which is currently in the process) from SPBNDT to SAQCC-NDT constituted by a new board under the authority of the DOEL. This new board represents various NDT industry stakeholders including representation from the Power Plant industry – Eskom, Refineries – Sasol, Transnet, South African Institute of Foundries (SAIF), Higher Institutions of Learning – VUT, South African Institute of Welding (SAIW) and the training schools – African NDT.

NDT under this new board now meant that it is on a clear path to be now formally regulated.  The newly established SAQCC-NDT body mandated by the DOEL will stand as the impartial and independent body under the authority of its nominated board of director’s industry stakeholders complying with SAQA and DOEL policies, regulations and requirements.  

The SPBNDT has also been instrumental in the registration of an NQF qualification, a process that was started several years ago. It has been an exasperating process, however much progress has been made over the last few months. After numerous back and forth meetings between ourselves, Merseta and QCTO the qualifications have been finally gazetted for public comment on the 11th of December 2020. Following the updates to various SAQA polices for the different sub-frameworks, the new Professional Body will be able to ensure articulation between the sub-frameworks, particularly the inclusion of the VUT diploma graduates. This is important to ensure a mobile well-educated workforce for the advancement of NDT in the country.

We are currently sitting on 63 members inclusive of affiliates and designated members, 34 professional members, 110 expired members and 96 members in the suspended list. The suspended list has those members that have started activity but have not completed within a sixty (60) days period. During the year problems were experienced with the database. This was also due to financial constraints caused by non-payment of fees to our service provider; however this has since been resolved and the database is back online and working as intended.

I am pleased to report that the SPBNDT appointment by the Regulator (SAHPRA) regarding training, examination and independent examinations is still valid. Designation by the Director General to manage this process was received in May 2017, stating that Directorate Radiation Control appoints the SPBNDT to act on its behalf.

Four (4) training bodies, namely ANDTc, NASA Durban, SAIW and SANDE are approved by SPBNDT to provide the one-week Basic level Radiation Safety training.

To date, these training bodies have presented forty-four (44) Basic level training courses and two hundred and thirteen (213) students have successfully completed the SPBNDT central examination. Review of the examination papers has highlighted subtle differences between the schools’ notes causing a small impact on the results. Discussions with the school lecturers are ongoing to ensure notes are harmonised and the examinees are not disadvantaged. More work needs to be done on the examination questions and this will form part of the new sector committees’ duties.

The module to allow registration of Industrial Radiographers on the SPBNDT database has been successful and I am pleased to report that the module is live and working well. After demonstration and training of relevant staff at several companies, feedback has been mostly positive.

The Industrial Radiographer program has thus far been welcomed by industry and I am optimistic that the program will remain successful and meet all of Radiation Control and Service Provider expectations. There is still much to do in this area with regard to regulation and stricter measures need to be placed to control Radiation Safety in our country.

I still believe as a country we need to proactively work on solutions which will allow industry to optimize performance, minimize the magnitude of operator variation in the applications of NDT inspections and satisfy the needs of the end users. SAQCC-NDT has a huge responsibility to harmonise the different certification schemes to be able grant a license to operate.

I want to thank SAINT and its founders for having laid the foundation for the establishment of this body. Thank you to all the corporate members and affiliates for the support that has led to this new development. I would like to say to the NDT practitioners, thank you for being on the front line during these difficult times. Thank you to all our other members. Lastly, a special mention and thank you to the SPBNDT NDT manager (Garth Appel) who has put his blood sweat and tears to the point where this body is currently at today.

Zakhele Bhayi