IIW History 1990-2015

Welding Inspector Certification programme. 38 The question of market need was an over- riding issue addressed by the Advisory Group confirming that there were more than 11 000 inspectors holding IIW qualifications and certification that were eligible for certification as welding inspectors. In addition, the group also identified 10 current IIW Member Societies involved in certification activities, of which six were interested in converting to an international system. 39 The evaluation of other various factors, including risk and liability, did result in the Advisory Group making a number of recommendations to the IIW Board of Directors, including acceptance of the original proposal made by the IAB in 2013 to allow the development of an IIW welding inspector certification scheme. These recommendations were predicated on mitigating certain aspects of IIW IAB policies and procedures including the resolution of other important issues regarding compliance with competition legislation, mentioned previously. In light of discussions at a subsequent meeting of the IIW Board a supplementary email ballot was held and the recommendation for a proposal to proceed with an IIW IAB Welding Inspector Certification system was subsequently approved in 2016. 40 Demand for IIW IAB qualification and certification still continued despite the lower uptake for qualifications in the Americas. It reached a sig­ nificant milestone in 2012 with a combined total of more than 90 000 IIW diplomas being issued around the world since the scheme first started, many of them in Europe. 41 The figures for diplomas, issued by the IIW IAB, con- tinued to show an upwards trend (see graph) and by the end of 2015 the IIW IAB network consisted of 46 countries, of which 45 had active IIW ANBs, including 13 of which offered personnel certification. A total of 533 personnel certificates (including new certificates and renewal of certifica-

tion) were awarded in 2015. 42 In addition, three countries, Angola, Macedonia and Tunisia were in the process of being assessed for authorisation as ANBs in 2015. Combined, the total number of international diplomas awarded by IIWANBs between 1998 and 2015 was 124 753, with 11 285 issued in 2015. Of these the vast majority of diplomas were awarded to welding coordination personnel (IWE, IWT, IWS, and IWP) and to a lesser extent to IW and others including IWIP and International Welded Structures Designer (IWSD).

In terms of company certification, the IIW IAB by 2015 comprised 26 active IIW ANBCCs that had certified almost 1 700 companies worldwide, including 278 new companies in 2015.

Olga Teixeira

Harmonised ETQ&C