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Sign inISO 9712 training hours and industrial experience
ISO 9712 is a certification standard, not a recommended practice. A third-party certification body — not the employer — decides whether a candidate is admitted to examination, so the training and experience minima are hard entry gates rather than guidance. A candidate arrives at the examination centre with a training certificate stating the hours and a signed experience statement from the employer; if either falls short of the table, the candidate is not examined.
Training is organised instruction to a syllabus, normally ISO/TS 25107 for the practical content. Industrial experience is measured in months of documented work under qualified supervision, on a nominal 40-hour week or the legal working week of the country. Someone working half-time on the method accumulates half a month of credit per calendar month, so the calendar time to eligibility stretches accordingly. Experience gained before training may be counted, but experience gained while under examination-only supervision generally is not.
Levels are cumulative and the table assumes the candidate already holds the level below. A candidate going straight to Level 2 without Level 1, or straight to Level 3, must satisfy the sum of the durations for all the levels concerned — no reduction is permitted for that route. Working the other way, the training duration alone may be reduced where the candidate holds relevant higher education or is already certified in other methods, but only with the agreement of the certification body; experience months are never reduced on those grounds.
Certification is valid for five years. Renewal at five years requires a current vision test and evidence of continuous satisfactory work without significant interruption; recertification at ten years additionally requires a practical examination, or acceptance under a structured credit system where the certification body operates one. A significant interruption in the method restarts the argument about competence and normally means re-examination.
training hours = ISO 9712 Table 1 (method, level) experience months = ISO 9712 Table 2 (method, level) direct entry (no prior level): sum the rows for every level up to the target training after allowed reduction = base × (1 − reduction% ÷ 100), and no reduction on the direct-entry route experience after reductions = base × (1 − simultaneous-methods % ÷ 100) × (1 − Level 3 graduate % ÷ 100), and no reduction on the direct-entry route calendar months = experience months × 40 ÷ (NDT hours worked per week) shortfall = max(0, calendar months required − months already credited)
- Certification is granted by a certification body, not the employer. The body may impose stricter entry conditions than the standard's minima.
- Direct entry to a level without holding the level below requires the sum of all lower-level durations, for both training and experience.
- Training reductions are permitted only by prior agreement with the certification body; experience months cannot be reduced.
- Experience is credited on a nominal 40 h week; credit for more than a nominal week must be supported by documented evidence.
- Certificates are valid for five years. Renewal needs a current vision test and evidence of continuous work; recertification at ten years needs a practical examination or structured credit.
- Level 3 candidates also sit a basic examination covering materials, processes and the other methods, in addition to the main-method examination.
- Experience gained simultaneously in two or more methods may reduce the total required — two methods 25 %, three 33 %, four or more 50 % — provided at least half of the required time is served in each method.
- For Level 3 the experience duration may be reduced by up to 50 % for candidates with an engineering or science degree or at least two years of relevant study, at the certification body's discretion. It never applies to Levels 1 and 2.
Reference: ISO 9712:2021 Table 1 (minimum training) and Table 2 (minimum industrial experience); simultaneous multi-method experience credit (two methods −25 %, three −33 %, four or more −50 %, at least half the required time in each method) and the Level 3 graduate reduction per the experience-table notes; training syllabus content per ISO/TS 25107
