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Students from Cameroon and Sudan at the SAIW
T
he Southern African Institute of Welding (SAIW) is currently hosting a group of non-destructive testing (NDT) students as
part of the triangular regional development programme sponsored by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA),
the relevant country and the SAIW. Four students fromHYDRAC inCameroon
and five students from the Sudanese Atomic Energy Corporation (SAEC) in
Sudan participated in this training and qualification programme.
According to Harold Jansen, SAIW NDT manager, the programme aims
at having the participants qualify in the four basic NDT methods: magnetic
testing (MT), penetrant testing (PT), ultrasonic testing (UT) and radiographic
testing (RT). “Not only will they receive training and examination up to and
including Level 2 qualification, but they will also be exposed to the process
of how the lecturing is handled as well as the handling of invigilation and
examinations. The training programme started in January 2015 and is
expected to last until the last week in May 2015.
The objective of the regional development programme is to help es-
tablish approved training bodies (ATB) and approved examination centres
(ExC) within various African countries. The SAIW facilitates this programme
in countries that are proficient in English with other languages, such as
French and Portuguese, being facilitated via regional development centres
catering for these languages in cooperation with the African Federation of
NDT (AFNDT).
Once the qualification programme has been completed, the nine stu-
dents will return to their respective countries in order to gain the industrial
experience required as part of their NDT certification process. Certification
is based on the SAQCC NDT scheme, which is a third party personnel cer-
tification scheme compliant with ISO 9712, the internationally recognised
standard for qualification and certification of NDT personnel.
We wish these students a long and successful career in NDT.
12
AFRICAN FUSION
March 2015
SAIW bulletin board
TSASA seminar and thermal spray exhibition
A
t Emperors Palace on Jan 21, 2015,
the Thermal Spray Association of
South Africa (TSASA), a sub-committee
within the SAIW, hosted a thermal spray
seminar presented by Heidi Lovelock
of TWI in the UK, along with a small
exhibition.
Says Sean Blake, SAIW GM, “TSASA,
as part of the SAIW, is developing af-
filiations with the International Thermal
Spray Society from the US and the In-
ternational Thermal Spray Association,
as well as GTS in Germany, which also
operates in conjunction with the Ger-
man Welding Society (DVS), our sister
organisation.”
Objectives of TSASA include:
•
To develop an organisation that will
ensure that the southern African
thermal spray offering and usage
is on par with that of the rest of the
world.
•
Toensure that themembersof theor-
ganisation receive tangible benefits.
•
Engage with research and develop-
ment organisations in South Africa.
•
Promote andprovide education and
training of all stakeholders.
•
To develop a thermal spray compa-
ny certification programme – “simi-
lar to ISO 3834 for welding industry”
– that enforces standardisation of
approvals/standards for use in local
and/or international markets.
•
And to develop integrated technical
advisory programmes for applica-
tions within every industry sector.
TSASA stakeholders include thermal
spray contractors, OEMs, companies
servicing the thermal spray industries,
welding and other supply companies,
engineering jobbing shops, gas and
fume extraction suppliers, and robotic
and automation specialists, “and we
have a spread of these people here
today” Blake says. “This makes me feel
very positive about the future of TSASA
and the thermal spray industry in South
Africa,” he concludes before introducing
Heidi Lovelock.
Sponsors for the event included: Yas-
kawa Motoman; MacKays Metal Spray-
ing; Weartech; Praxair; Thermaspray;
and P&S Engineering.
AdamWintle, acting chairperson of the TSASA, Brandon Smith, Weartech Natal and Steve Maynard
from Johannesburg photographed at the Weartech exhibition stand.
The Southern African Institute of Welding is currently
hosting a group of NDT students as part of the triangular
regional development programme.