The Institute of Corrosion Training and Certification Scheme for Cathodic Protection Personnel has been successfully running for many years. In 2006 it was extended from only Buried CP courses to include, firstly Steel in Concrete and then Marine/Offshore to meet the then BS EN 15257: 2006 Standard on ‘CP Competence levels and Certification’. This Standard was adopted across Europe and worked as a framework to ensure equivalence and acceptance of rigorous training, assessment and certification in CP.
At an early stage ICorr partnered with the Corrosion Prevention Association (CPA), the UK trade association for CP and other corrosion mitigation measures in concrete. The CPA has members from the client/owner, contractor, material supplier and consultant sectors, and most contractors and designers active in CP of steel in concrete are members. ICorr members have been prominent in the CPA and in their technical activities in the production of guidance notes and in working with clients/owners in ensuring effective and reliable CP systems. Highways England and many other major users of CP in the concrete infrastructure require personnel working on CP to be Certificated to the appropriate level in accordance with the ICorr Scheme. This is applied to their designers, installation and operational surveillance personnel. The CPA has been responsible for marketing and administrating ICorr courses and examinations in the concrete CP sector.
In 2017 the Standard became BS EN ISO 15257:2017; this revised the previous Levels 1-3 to Levels 1-5, with Level 1 being typically for those who either worked part time in CP alongside other responsibilities, or whose role was to collect data. Level 5 is an expert level for those with particularly high levels of knowledge and expertise. During this time, as well as extensive work being undertaken by ICorr CP specialists in meeting the expanded and more rigorous requirements of the new ISO Standard, ICorr was in discussion with National Grid and other major gas distribution network operators who require high levels of expertise and certainty in their safety related CP activities. These gas transmission companies now require their key CP personnel and the CP personnel of their specialist contractors working on CP to be Certificated to the appropriate level in accordance with the ICorr Scheme. Also, during this time ICorr invested in improving the quality of their training packages which are now considered to be world leading. ICorr offers training in Levels 1-3, examinations in Levels 1-4, and competence assessment and certification to all levels. In 2021 most of the ICorr CP courses and examinations were delivered at an ICorr Approved CP Training and Examination Centre at Freyssinet in Telford. Since 2021 the CPA have been administering all L1-L3 Courses.
During the coming months, CP courses will be held at Telford and other selected locations. For a complete list of L1-L3 courses in all sectors, and to make bookings, go to, https://www.corrosionprevention.org.uk/training-courses-2022
In March 2022 ICorr rolled out its first Level 4 Buried examination. This is intended for those experienced CP Level 3 engineers, who have studied CP literature, have been mentored for some years by experienced Level 4 CP engineers in detailed and complex CP system designs and interpretation of CP performance data from ‘complicated’ CP systems, and have reached the Competence required at Level 4.
The next Level 4 examinations will be held at Corrosion House, Northampton, on 17 September and 8th December 2022.
See https://www.icorr.org/cathodic-protection-training for details.
Competence Assessment and Certification
In accordance with ISO 15257 the post examination Assessment and Certification process is undertaken within ICorr’s Professional Assessment Committee (PAC), independent of the training and examination activities. All details are on the ICorr web site as above. In addition, there is a list of all ICorr Level 4 Senior CP engineers on this web site.
