Training of heat treatment technicians

08 September 2010

Following discussions initiated by Cooperheat SA, SAIW is to develop a training course that will be open to anyone working or wanting to work in heat treatment.

Heat treatment technicians are typically responsible for the pre- and post-welding heat treatment of equipment such as pressure vessels, pressure piping and boilers. Their work, which is usually carried out on site, is critical to ensuring the integrity of pressurised equipment.

Cooperheat SA currently provides this training in-house but believes it would be in the interests of industry as a whole if training could be offered through a credible training body such as SAIW. To this end, Yusef Patel and Jim Kirwan of Cooperheat SA recently met with Etienne Nell and Jim Guild, and SAIW has agreed to develop and offer heat treatment training.

Etienne Nell says he is excited about this initiative because there is great potential to grow training services to the heat treatment sector. It seems likely that this development will lead to a certification scheme but it will initially be launched as a stand alone qualification course.

He invited companies interested in heat treatment to join the Industry Support Committee, which will oversee development of the course syllabus and presentation material.