The underwater inspection phase of the Certification Scheme for Welding and Inspection Personnel (CSWIP) evolved in a different regime and at a time when underwater and in particular, diver inspection levels, were significantly higher than they are now.

In recent years there have been a number of factors which have impacted the offshore industry and which have led to a rapid downward trend on the volume of inspection now routinely carried out. Largely this has resulted from the use of significantly more efficient and effective global techniques, capable of deployment by ROV as opposed to diver, and within optimised inspection strategies. These strategies do now also take account of a large base of valuable accumulated historical information, which assists the targeting of future inspection activities in a more focused - and for some operators - a risk based manner

The Safety Case legislation has also added a further influencing factor, defining the need for formal competence to be now demonstrably established for all personnel involved in critical activities.

A further change for many operators has been the development of longer term partner or alliance style contractor relationships based on a common sharing and ownership of joint goals. In these relationships, ownership of integrity assurance goals and responsibility for compliance with the Safety Case requirement has also been transferred into the contractor business. Operators and contractors alike now have a common need to be able to demonstrate use of qualified, competent inspection personnel.

In this changed environment, the ongoing role of CSWIP has been changed and reviewed - but to summarise, it is considered that as a market available independent personnel certification scheme, it continues to provide the basic needs of the offshore industry in key safety related activities and in the cost effective provision of suitable qualified personnel, underpinning the task of overall integrity assurance.

What does CSWIP provide?

We live in an open market and any organisation is free to operate a personnel certification scheme. However, when considering the options, it is important to bear in mind exactly what CSWIP offers.

CSWIP is an independent personnel certification scheme, ie one that is not tied to any particular sector, client, authority or any other interested party. It has operated and been continually developed successfully for over a quarter of a century. The scheme is operated by TWI Certification Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary company of The Welding Institute (TWI). The structure is such that profits are not distributed and if there is a financial surplus it is invested in improving the services provided by TWI. TWI Certification is an accredited personnel certification body in accordance with requirements laid down by the National Accreditation Council for Certification Bodies, on behalf of the Department of Trade and Industry. It was the first certification body in Europe to receive this accolade.

CSWIP is governed by the Certification Management Board representative of a wide range of interests, eg clients, contractors and the HSE. The role of the staff of TWI Certification is to operate the scheme in accordance with the rules, procedures and scale of fees laid down by the relevant Boards and Committees. The structure of the Scheme therefore ensures that it is driven solely by the needs of industry in an impartial way with no single interest or group of interests predominating.

The main verification and insurance bodies accept CSWIP qualified personnel without reservation. Indeed both Lloyds Register and DnV are represented on the Underwater Inspection Management Committee and have phased out their own personnel certification schemes in favour of CSWIP.

Persons wishing to sit a CSWIP examination must demonstrate that they have: appropriate background qualifications, undergone appropriate training, and acquired specified experience. CSWIP, whilst not directly involved in training itself, approves and monitors training provided by other organisations to ensure that it meets the required standards. Assessments of training organisations leading to approval are conducted by relevant experts who are usually members of the Underwater Inspection Management Committee.

Examinations are conducted at one of a number of special test centres under the supervision of a CSWIP qualified person. Such persons are themselves independent of any training organisation or other commercial interest.

In order to maintain their certification, holders are required to pass a renewal examination every five years and to be able to demonstrate that they have been practising with reasonable continuity in the activity for which the certificate was awarded.

Test centre facilities, examination questions, practical tests, examiners and invigilators are all verified by audits conducted on behalf of the Underwater Inspection Management Committee. Members of the Underwater Inspection Management Committee are also directly involved in designing examinations in such a way that the standards required by the industry are maintained.

The underwater inspection phase of CSWIP has the following grades of certification:

3.1U Underwater inspector (visual inspection and photography)

3 .2U Underwater inspector (3 . I U plus NDT)

3.3U ROV inspector

3 .4U Underwater inspection controller.

A concrete inspection endorsement is available for all four grades. The scheme is currently being extended to include electromagnetic testing.

Benefits for the Operator

As indicated above, operators are developing a more 'hands-off' approach in their relationship with contractors. This is manifested in less prescriptive contracts and in the elimination of direct supervision. Instead, contractors are obligated to maintain the integrity of the asset for the life of the field, to operate best industry practice in doing so, and to undergo periodic audits by the operator. The contractor in this scenario is providing a service managed operation.

CSWIP provides a cost-effective way of demonstrating competence, and there is clearly a benefit if all operators adopt the same nationally accredited scheme (which in turn is accepted by verification and insurance bodies) rather than getting involved in assessing different schemes on an individual basis

Benefits for the Contractor

In providing the operator with a service managed operation the contractor will have more on his hands than was previously the case but there are potential rewards, through financial incentives and through longevity of the contract. In this scenario, the contractor will find it convenient to leave specialist aspects of the operation to specialist organisations. Contractors can therefore rely on CSWIP to service manage underwater inspection qualifications.

There are three main benefits to this approach: CSWIP can provide an unambiguous way of demonstrating competence which is universally accepted by operators and certifying authorities; it avoids the need to convince operators of the validity, reliability and credibility of any alternative scheme that may arise; and it provides added value in that as well as ensuring a ready supply of certificated personnel, it satisfies at a stroke the requirement to demonstrate appropriate training, experience, qualification and current competence of inspection personnel.

Conclusion

CSWIP is even more relevant to subsea integrity assurance today than it was when it was first introduced. Operators, contractors and contract managers can have the utmost confidence that using the scheme will create a solid platform on which to build a system to demonstrate safety and structural integrity.

From information supplied by Tim Jessop of TWI Certification Ltd in association with David Tweed of BP.

Further details from: TWI Certification Ltd Tel: + 44 (0) 1223 891162.