CPD – Raising Professional Standards

During my 4 years working at Infrared Training Limited, I have seen a large shift essay writing service towards students who go on to achieve certification after completing Thermography training year on year.

As a BINDT approved training organisation, our course material allows students to apply to sit a third party PCN examination through The British Institute of Non Destructive Testing; this is an internationally recognised verification of competence that is valid for 5 years. We are 1 of only 3 companies in the UK that offer this certification option for Thermography as our training course complies with ISO 18436.

We also offer ASNT certification, meaning our students have the choice for whichever certification suits their individual or organisations requirements most effectively. ASNT SNT TC 21A are American standards; this is second party certification whereby students can submit a report to our trainers for review, certification is valid for 3 years. This process is completed in house through our online report submission tool and any report that is not up to the required standard, the student is offered advice and support and this can be resubmitted until passed.

Due to the increase in both certification options, it became apparent that students and organisations are striving for quality and viewing Thermography as the skilled discipline we have always recognised it to be. We wanted to support our students further; we understand that although it is vital to raise standards through training to ensure quality, time taken away from the shop floor for any technician or manager in either a SME or Global corporation comes at a cost to both time and resources.

It is unusual for a company or individual to pay to attend training and then be satisfied to gain an attendance certificate that goes in their personnel file never to be thought of again. In todays economic climate and with a rise in SME’s, focus has to be on value for money and the financial or direct business benefit for any investment:

A document published by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills revealed that Britain currently has a record 4.5 million private sector businesses. SMEs account for 99 per cent of them.

Research by the Federation of Small Businesses, which represents more than 200,000 SMEs, shows that between 2000-2011 self-employment accounted for almost the totality of the rise in private sector employment. Large businesses’ share of employment dropped from 45 to 40 per cent during that time, revealing that large multinationals are more likely to shed jobs than create them.

http://www.rbs-businesssense.co.uk/

This is why at Infrared Training Limited, we have registered with the CPD Standards office to have our courses formally accredited allowing CPD hours to be allocated to training. This applies to full training courses or refresher sessions for both Thermography and Air Tightness Testing at all levels. Continuing Professional Development is becoming more common in the workplace and a formal requirement in many industries and services; acting as a documented verification that an individual is keeping up to date with the right skills and core competencies.

Depending upon what industry or institution an individual is registered with, the CPD requirements vary greatly. We have adopted a straightforward approach, whereby every hour of training equates to an hour of CPD and we issue CPD Standards office branded certificates as a formal recognition of recorded allocation. We have gone through a rigorous application process and are proud to say that are quality systems and training documents have approved and we are now a member of the CPD Standards Office; member number – 21217.