Nondestructive testing (NDT) has exacting rules for how an inspection is performed, and remarkably little discipline around the simpler question of who is qualified to perform it today. In most shops the answer lives in a spreadsheet someone built years ago, a folder of scanned certificates and one person's memory. It works until the day it matters: an auditor asks to see a technician's current vision exam, a client asks for the crew's certifications before a job, or someone notices after the fact that a report was signed by a Level II whose certification lapsed last month.
This guide is about closing that gap: what “current” actually means for an NDT technician, why a spreadsheet struggles with it, and what a tracking system has to do instead.
“Current” is more than an expiry date
A certificate has one date printed on it. Whether its holder can actually work depends on several clocks running at once, and any one of them can stop the others:
- The certification itself, per method and per level. A technician with UT Level II, MT Level II and PT Level I holds three certifications, each with its own date.
- The vision exam, usually yearly for near vision, with color less often. Under NAS410 an expired vision exam suspends the certification (Rev 6, 8.3.2); under SNT-TC-1A the results are part of what the certification rests on (2024, 9.4.5).
- Continuity in the method. NAS410 suspends a certification after twelve consecutive months without working in the method, and revokes it after 24. SNT-TC-1A leaves interrupted service to your written practice (section 11), which should set its own rule.
- Periodic proficiency. NAS410 requires a documented annual proficiency review, and an expired one suspends the certification. SNT-TC-1A recommends periodic practical re-evaluation at an interval your written practice defines (10.2).
- Employment. Employer-based certifications end with the job. A new hire's previous certification is history, not a certification you can use.
On top of those: expiries fall at the end of the month under both SNT-TC-1A and NAS410, which is kinder than a hard date but easy to get wrong in a formula. And a certification can be current in one scheme and not another — the same person certified to NAS410 for your aerospace line and to SNT-TC-1A for code work is tracked twice.
| Clock | NAS410 | SNT-TC-1A |
|---|---|---|
| Certification | Recertify within 5 years (Level 1-Limited: 2) | Recommended maximum 5 years |
| Near vision | Yearly | Yearly |
| Color | At least every 5 years | At certification, then every 5 years |
| Proficiency | Annual review, documented | Periodic, as the written practice sets |
| Gap in the method | Suspended after 12 months, revoked after 24 | Written practice sets the rule |
| Expires | End of the month | Last day of the month |
Our own summary. Your written practice may be stricter, and customers may add their own requirements.
Why a spreadsheet misses it
A general-purpose spreadsheet is a fine place to store dates. The trouble is everything around the dates:
- It does not know the rules. A cell can hold a vision exam date, but it has no idea that the exam's expiry suspends three certifications in another tab.
- It only warns people who open it. Conditional formatting turns a cell red for whoever happens to look. Nobody is told.
- It drifts from the evidence. The spreadsheet says current; the certificate, the exam papers and the vision form sit somewhere else. The auditor wants the evidence, not the cell.
- It has one author. When the person who built it leaves, the knowledge of which columns matter leaves too.
- It cannot say “no”. Nothing stops a job being crewed, or a report being signed, by someone whose certification lapsed yesterday.
What a tracking system has to do
Whatever you use — a dedicated system or a disciplined manual process — it has to do these things:
- Track per method and per level, under the scheme and written practice each certification was issued to.
- Hold every clock: certification, vision, proficiency and anything your written practice adds, each with its own date.
- Warn ahead, and warn the right people — the quality manager, the Level III, and the technician whose certification it is — early enough to book the exam or the eye test.
- Keep the evidence with the record: the certificate, exam results, the practical checklist, vision forms, training records.
- Record who certified whom: the Level III who verified the qualification and the Certifying Authority who signed.
- Act on status, not just display it: a suspended or expired certification should stop someone being crewed or signing in that method.
- Produce the audit packet for one technician or a whole crew without a day of copying.
Getting out of the spreadsheet
A move that does not lose anything, in the order that works:
- Start from the written practice. Write down which scheme and edition each certification is issued under, and the numbers your practice sets: pass mark, hours, recertification and proficiency intervals. The written practice guide helps if yours needs attention first.
- Bring in people, then certifications. One row per certification — method, level, dates — not one row per technician.
- Attach the evidence as you go. Each certificate and vision form beside the record it supports. Gaps you find now are gaps an auditor would have found later.
- Run both for one cycle. Keep the old sheet read-only for a month, and compare what each says is coming due.
- Retire the sheet. Two sources of truth are worse than one bad one.
How TRACE handles it
TRACE was built for exactly this. Each certification carries its method, level, written practice and due date; vision exams and compliance items carry theirs; and anything past due or coming due surfaces on the dashboard, the calendar, the notification bell and a reminder digest at the cadence each person chooses — including the technician's own, about their own records.
Status is enforced, not just shown: a technician with no active certification in a method cannot submit a field report in it, and suspended or revoked certifications print as such wherever a crew is chosen. The certification's paperwork — practical checklist, exam record, certification record, vision exam — is filled in on screen and exported as PDF, and the Responsible Level III who certified it is named on the certificate. Bring your companies in from a spreadsheet, or hand a technician's document packet to the intake, which drafts the technician and their certifications for you to accept row by row. See the modules or pricing.
Frequently asked questions
How long does an NDT certification last?
Under SNT-TC-1A the recommended maximum is five years from the date the Certifying Authority signs, and under NAS410 recertification is required at intervals of no more than five years (two for NAS410's Level 1-Limited). Both expire at the end of the month. Your written practice may set a shorter period.
Can an NDT certification lapse before its expiry date?
Yes. Under NAS410 a certification is suspended when the vision exam or annual proficiency review expires, when the person has not worked in the method for twelve consecutive months, or after a failed recertification exam. SNT-TC-1A leaves interrupted service to the written practice. A certificate with years left on it can still be unusable today.
What records should I keep for each certified technician?
At least: the level, method and any limitations; training and experience history; the exams or evidence of them and the composite grade; current vision results; who verified the qualification and who certified it; and the certification and expiry dates. NAS410 also expects the latest annual proficiency review and the reasons for any suspension or revocation.
Is a spreadsheet good enough for tracking NDT certifications?
It can hold the dates, but it cannot notice them. A spreadsheet has no idea that a vision exam suspends a certification, that a NAS410 technician has not worked in a method for a year, or that a new hire's certification belonged to the old employer. Whatever tracks certifications has to raise those before an auditor or a client does.
Checked against
- NAS410 Revision 6, Aerospace Industries Association, revision date 1 December 2025
- ASNT SNT-TC-1A, 2024 edition, with the 2025 addendum
This guide summarises the documents above in our own words to help you find your way around them. It is not a substitute for them: requirements change between editions and contracts add their own, so check every figure against your own licensed copy and your written practice before you rely on it.
Named for reference only. TRACE is an independent product: it is not affiliated with, endorsed by, sponsored by or accredited by ASNT (publisher of SNT-TC-1A) or the Aerospace Industries Association (publisher of NAS410), or by any other organization whose standards or programs it describes. Their names and marks are their own.