6. Personnel and plant performance

6.1 Staff qualifications

Non-destructive testing is carried out by agents certified by the Confédération française des essais non destructifs (COFREND) in accordance with the draft European standard Pr EN 4179. They are applied in compliance with regulations, codes, standards and specifications relating to the products inspected. Sector committees, such as COSAC for aerospace (Comité sectoriel aérospatial de certification), issue certifications on examination.

Within COFREND, there are several levels of qualification:

• level 1: staff at this level are operators capable of carrying out checks in accordance with written instructions;

• level 2: agents are capable of carrying out the...