South African Institute For Non-Destructive Testing

17 November 2016

PRESIDENT’S REPORT TO THE 49TH ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

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>> click here to view or download SPBNDT Annual Report (pdf)

It is an honour for me to present the Presidents report to this AGM in terms of the requirements of the current SAINT Constitution. This report details the activities of the SAINT Council for the past term of office.

1. Members of Council

The following members served council during the 2015/2016 period:

2. Activities of the Council and the Institute

2.1 Meetings

The meetings held were:

• Standard Council x 5
• Strategy Session
• Quarterly Budget Reviews x 4
• Auditors x 3
• Special General Meeting (Increase in Corporate Membership Fees)

2.2 Professional Body

A number of small roadshows and visits have been undertaken to promote the PB.

Dialogue with the primary end user of NDT (Eskom) has been maintained with a statement to the effect reading “In principle, Eskom remains supportive towards the efforts of the Saint Professional Body for NDT (SPBNDT). Additional work is being undertaken by the SPBNDT with the full collaboration and provision of additional input of Eskom in order to strengthen the existing relationship. More information will be released as new milestones are reached” being agreed upon.

We are still engaged with the MERSETA regarding the NDTT qualification. After many conversations and meetings, the QCTO informed Garth that the finalisation of the qualification is in progress.

SAINT was appointed to act on behalf of the Directorate Radiation Control, to ascertain the radiation safety competency of all industrial (NDT) radiographers in South Africa, using Group III and IV hazardous substances.

The Professional Body is now responsible for the approval of training bodies and independent examinations. The approved training institutions will conduct formal classroom training and administer the supplied independent end of course examination.

Our thanks and appreciation is afforded to Garth for all of his dogged determination and hard work towards achieving the PB’s goals.

See the SPBNDT Annual Report for further details.

2.3 Membership

Regarding membership, we currently have 36 corporate members and 79 individual members. Their decision to join or renew their membership is most welcome and after realising the actual benefits, it is hoped that a lot more companies and individuals will join our ranks in the future. A decision was made to migrate the name list of all of the individual members to the PB so that Saint can focus on the needs of the corporates and the PB, on the individuals.

2.4 NDT Training activities

All technical enquiries received by SAINT are referred to this group for discussion.

Mr. Simon Wilding, chairperson of the committee, facilitated a well attended session to debate the new requirements of Eskom regarding wall thickness measurement training of technicians in line with the requirements of ISO 20807. It is worthy to mention the positive actions by the various training centres to accommodate the industry on very short notice, and various courses are currently presented to meet the implementation date of January 2014.

2.4 NDT Training activities

a) Vaal University of Technology

The following information was provided by Dr Ike Sikakana:

• There were 117 enrolments during 2017.
• Number of students who have completed their subjects (June/July 2017)
  but require experiential learning (on record) – 18
• Number of Students due to graduate – April 2018 (projection based on
  practical 2 experiential learning registered students) – 15
• NDT staff members attained additional qualifications:
  – Ms Lesego Molefe, Ms Siyanda Nkwanyana and Ms Khathutshelo Shavhani,
  Baccalaureus Technologiae in Operations Management (B Tech) from VUT
  – Mrs Ngeletshedzo Nyambeni has obtained the Baccalaureus
  Technologiae in Quality (B Tech) from the University of Johannesburg.
  – Ms Siyanda Nkwanyana passed the Level 2 Certification in Radiographic
  Testing and Interpreters course at the African NDT Centre in May 2017.
• A report from the external review panel (Dr Manfred Johannes & Braam Prins) on the compiled 2016 self-evaluation report of the NDT programme, was submitted to Quality Promotion Unit (QPU) in May 2017. Remedial Action Plans have now been instituted.

b) Training Centres

The ANDTC, NASA, SAIW and SANDE still provide valuable training to NDT technicians, and their efforts remain appreciated.

Only two training centers provided statistics of which, are presented in the pdf. (click here to download pdf)
No comparison between last year’s figures and that of this year could be made due to insufficient data.

The process of technician’s converting to an ISO 9712 Personal certification is in full swing with examinations being undertaken at SANDE.

2.5 Website

Our website remained quite stagnant for a while due to our webmaster relocating overseas. We now have a new website developer who has created a site where we have almost full autonomy for the adding and removing of content.

Work is currently being undertaken to identify areas that require updating as well the addition of new and exciting sections.

2.6 Technical Evenings

No technical evenings were held this year. We have recently decided to reintroduce the quarterly technical evening project and would like to extend an invitation to all corporates to host one of the technical evenings that are currently being planned for. It is sure that this will be an ideal opportunity for the promotion/showcasing of the services or the products being provided or sold by you’re the particular corporate.

2.7 Technical Committees

SAINT had a representative that participated at the SAQCC committee meetings held at the SAIW during the past year.

2.8 Marketing

Our marketing efforts gained little interest this year and it is hoped that, that with the renewed efforts of the standing committees, SAINT will achieving the desired results for the marketing of the institute.

2.9 Conferences

There were 3 events of note during this past year.

• 7th ACNDT Oran – Algeria 26-28th November 2016
  
  This conference was attended by 2 council members who presented papers and were appointed as Session Chairpersons. An AFNDT General Assembly and ICNDT PGP meeting was attended. See Activity Report – SAR22 – President’s Attendance of 7th ACNDT Oran – Algeria – Nov 2016 for additional details.
• Nuclear Africa Conference – 29-31 March 2017
  
  This conference was attended by 5 council members who reported that their experience was an interesting and thoughtful one. See Activity Report – SAR24 -SAINT Visit – Nuclear Conference for additional details.Gammatec SA is thanked for their kind sponsoring of the conference tickets.
• Corrosion Institute of South Africa’s (CorriSA) Corrosion Awareness Day 21 April 2017
  
  This event was attended by 2 council members who reported that the CorriSA members were most helpful and forthcoming. See Activity Report SAR25 – SAINT Visit – CorriSA’s Corrosion Awareness Day for additional details.Page: 5 of 6
• SAINT National Conference 7-8th February 2018
  
  We are pleased to announce the advent of this conference and are looking forward to the hosting of a very different sort that has not been seen in South Africa before. Focus is going to be made on NDT applications that even a young NDT Level 1 will find interesting and worthy of remembering.A conference website has been created where exhibitor and speaker registrations can be made.Visit www.ndtgoldconference.co.za for details.

2.10 ICNDT

Two ICNDT Journals were published with the latest containing the announcement of our 2018 National Conference.

The Vice President attended an ISO 9712 conference (Document Review) and the ICNDT Meetings: EC, ICEC, WG 1 in Vienna during June of this year.

2.11 AFNDT

A General Assembly meeting is being planned to be held during our National Conference in February next year.

2.12 Social Events

No social events were organised this past year but it is hoped that at least two can be planned and scheduled for next year.

2.13 Social Media

The social media manager has kept SAINT’s Twitter and Facebook account quite busy with regular additions being ‘liked’ and ‘shared’. Council are constantly looking for ways to reach out to all people involved in NDT with the correct message that SAINT wants to convey.

2.14 Awards

SAINT Council has decided to present the awards at the Gala Dinner of the National Conference next year.
A call for nominations will soon be sent out to all stakeholders.

3. Acknowledgements

I would like to thank everybody for their contributions during the past year, including all of the council members who diligently fulfilled their various responsibilities as well as the taking on of additional work, sometimes when under very difficult time constraints. Your efforts are sincerely appreciated.

I thank you all for this opportunity, and ensure you of our commitment as council in the coming year to further improve the functioning of the Institute to the benefit of all stakeholders, as members of the Southern African Institute for Non-destructive Testing.

Yours in service,
Keith Cain
SAINT President
17 November 2016