Do you mean ASNT does not mention the "value" of the cert or they do not mention ACCP? You can learn about ACCP here http://www.asnt.org/certification/levelii/index.htm. As for the value of it, it is third party certification, like CWI is third party certification, which some employers are asking for so they have some evidence that the candidate knows what they are doing in NDT.

Bill

If you are a certified NDE tech, and (not ASNT certified) you are certified by your employer. When you leave that employment, you are no longer certified... you may be qualified, but you are not certified.

If you are ASNT certified, your certificate stays with you, not your employer. (The same with your CWI,... it stays with you, not your employer.) Personnally to me an ASNT cetificate indicates a certain independent higher level of integrity in qualification, as does a CWI over just a shop welding inspector certificate from XYZ Welding & Fab. Company.

I have seen some NDE guys that are "certified", but the NDE company just needed some "warm bodies" to do some inspections.

This is a great question and should lead to a lively discusion.

The ASNT ACCP certification, like the AWS QC1 program, is a central certification issued by a third party, i.e., the ASNT. It is not employer based.

Both AWS QC1 and ASNT ACCP certifications can be accepted by the employer without further testing. However, the customer may require additional testing and employer certification for some applications or industries.

Certification in accordance with ASNT's Recommended Practice SNT-TC-1A and CP-189 are both employer based certifications. The certification is valid only as long as the individual is employed by the company that certified the individual as meeting the qualification requirements of their written practice.

Some industries require the QC1 and/or ACCP certified individuals to be certified in accordance with their employer's written practice before they are permitted to perform NDT (including VT) on projects for contractual and/or legal reasons.

The bottom line is that both QC1 and ACCP inspection personnel have been tested by third parties and certified as meeting the qualification
requirements of the respective central certification programs. The central certification programs serve a service to industry by creating a uniform basis used to assess the individual's knowledge and experience. These programs remove some of the biases that may be present is some employer based certification program.

An individual listed as a Level I, II, or Level III is an individual that has been tested and certified by the employer in accordance with SNT-TC-1A or CP-189.

Both the ASNT NDT Level III and the ASNT ACCP Level III Professional have been tested and certified by the American Society for Nondestructive Testing. The ACCP Level III Professional has passed a practical test as well as demonstrated the ability to write an inspection procedure.

In my case, the ACCP certification sets me apart from those individuals that are only tested and certified by their employers. Just like my CWI credentials sets me apart from the "shop QC inspector" that is not a CWI. Is it better? That's up to my clients to decide.

Hope this helps.

Best regards - Al