NDT & Inspection Insight | Test Inspect Group

October 2026

Email Is as Old as the Post: Your Inspection Reports Now Live in Your Client Area

Reports are now drafted with AI from the inspector's photos, signed by a qualified inspector, recorded permanently and published straight into your client area as soon as a job is complete. No more hunting through email.

Two Test Inspect Level 3s reviewing a procedure at the desk

October 2026

Verified Procedures: Check Any Test Inspect NDT Procedure in a Minute

A Level 3 signature can be copied onto anything. Every procedure our Level 3s now write or approve carries a QR code. Scan it to see who wrote it, who approved it, the issue date, the page count and whether it is still current.

October 2026

How our 52-week roadmap works, and why clarity creates momentum

Week 2 of our 52-week communications roadmap: how the weekly rhythm works, what you will see from us, and why we are starting with the people behind each Test Inspect Group business.

Test Inspect colleagues at the tensile testing machine in the Flawed lab at Lillyhall

September 2026

We don't get to have a bad day: what Saving Lives, Protecting Communities means

When a doctor has an off day, one patient feels it. When an inspector misses something, everyone relying on that component does. Why our purpose describes the job rather than decorates it.

Saturn Four Media and the Test Inspect team in a working session, with a violet and blue colour wash

September 2026

Saturn Four Media joins Test Inspect Group as our communications partner

We have appointed Saturn Four Media as our communications delivery partner. The work starts inside the Group — one purpose everyone owns — before we take it outside.

September 2026

Backing the Beamish Under-8s

Test Inspect Group is sponsoring the Beamish under-8s this season, across the Russell Foster and Durham Premier leagues. Why we back grassroots youth sport.

A Test Inspect technician beside the Charpy impact pendulum in our Lillyhall lab

September 2026

Charpy Impact Testing Explained: Why 27 J at −20°C Is In Your Spec

What the Charpy test actually measures, why the temperature in your specification is the whole point, how to read shear and lateral expansion alongside the joules, and what to do when a set fails.

Two technicians visually inspecting a welded stainless pipe spool with a torch

September 2026

Remote Visual Inspection: When a Borescope Beats Opening the Asset

What RVI can resolve and what it cannot, the honest limits of 3D measurement, and how to specify a job that produces a usable record rather than an hour of dark video.

September 2026

Container Inspection to IICL Standards: What Gets a Unit Rejected

What the IICL criteria assess component by component, how CSC differs from IICL, where the repair-or-scrap line falls, and the three things that separate a real inspection from paperwork.

A Flawed technician examining the welds on a stainless steel pipe spool

September 2026

Ferroxyl Testing: Finding Free Iron Before It Pits Your Stainless

How iron gets onto stainless during fabrication, why it initiates pitting rather than just staining, how the test works, and the process controls that separate a real result from a coloured smear.

A Flawed technician inspecting a bent test specimen beside the tensile testing machine

September 2026

Flawed Specimens: How Realistic Defects Are Designed and Manufactured

Why a drilled hole is not a defect, how representative flaws are actually made, why the flaw map is the real product, and the blanks most specimen sets leave out.

A technician in a Flawed-branded black t-shirt and hi-vis trousers leans over a welded stainless pipe spool with flanges, visually inspecting it in front of a radiation trefoil mural.

September 2026

NDT Appreciation Training: What It Covers and Who Actually Needs It

The people who commission NDT are rarely trained in it, and the failures that causes are consistent and expensive. What the course covers, who it is for, and why inspectability is decided at design.

A Flawed technician watching a live load–displacement curve on the testing software screen

September 2026

Building the Tools: How Smart Test Technologies Decides What to Make

Why an inspection group runs its own workshop, the calculators that remove a whole class of silent error, and the four tests a bespoke tool has to pass before it is worth building.

Daley Rogers and Jimmy Docherty of Saturn Four Media in a working session with the Test Inspect team

September 2026

Inspection and Testing in Southampton | Test Inspect Group

On-site NDT, radiography, weld and coating inspection across the South of England from our Totton base — what we do locally, why proximity decides the cost, and how to reach us.

Two Test Inspect colleagues with an inspection instrument in front of a radiation warning sign

September 2026

CALT Leak Testing: Proving the Seal on a Radioactive Material Package

Double O-ring closures, the interspace between them, and what the Croft Associates CALT 9 actually measures — plus the six ways a seal fails and why sensitivity verification is the part that matters.

Oliver Fretwell PCN level 2 conducting Ultrasonic thickness testing of pipework at Lancaster University

August 2026

ISO 9712 vs PCN: Which NDT Certification Does Your Contract Need?

PCN is a scheme that certifies to ISO 9712, not an alternative to it. The distinction that actually costs money is third-party versus employer-based certification — and what Level 1, 2 and 3 really authorise.

Radiographe of weld on film technique iso 17636-1

August 2026

Reading a Radiograph: Common Weld Defects and How They Appear on Film

Porosity, slag, lack of fusion, lack of penetration, cracks, undercut and tungsten — what each looks like on a radiograph, why it formed, and what usually decides whether it is acceptable.

Flawhawk.ai screenshot of booking being updated

August 2026

Real-Time Inspection Reporting: Why Waiting Three Days for Results Costs You More

Standing time at hold points, rework found late, remobilisation, and decisions made on assumption — where the days actually go in traditional inspection reporting, and what changes when results arrive from site.

Weld xray setup on stainless steel pipe in Nuclear

August 2026

What IRR17 Actually Requires Before You Bring Radiography On Site

The Ionising Radiations Regulations 2017 in plain working English — consent, prior risk assessment, controlled areas, RPA and RPS, dosimetry, and what your site has to do about any of it.

MPI of welds on B6 Tower Sellafield Cumbria

August 2026

Magnetic Particle or Dye Penetrant? A Surface Inspection Decision Guide

One material property decides it before anything else. Where MPI wins, where penetrant wins, why fluorescent changes sensitivity more than the method choice does — and the process failures that quietly produce clean reports.

August 2026

NDT in Nuclear Decommissioning: What West Cumbria Sites Ask For

Decommissioning inspection is not construction inspection done later. Unknown materials, dose as a design constraint, controlled areas in buildings never laid out for them, and why chain of custody is part of the deliverable.

Phased array ultrasonic testing showing S scan A and C scan setup

August 2026

Ultrasonic Testing vs Phased Array: Choosing the Right Volumetric Method

Coverage, speed, sizing and the permanent data record — an honest comparison of conventional UT against PAUT, including the jobs where conventional is still the correct answer.

Balfour Beatty Apprentice Welder Qualification

August 2026

Welder Qualification Testing: From Coupon to Certificate, Step by Step

Procedure qualification versus welder qualification, why coupon design decides the cost, and the seven-step sequence from witnessed welding through NDT and destructive testing to a certificate somebody will accept.

Stainless steel components that have had pmi conducted

August 2026

Positive Material Identification: What XRF Can and Cannot Tell You

Handheld XRF cannot measure carbon, so it cannot separate 304 from 304L or 316 from 316L. Why that matters for sensitisation and stress corrosion, when you genuinely need OES, and what an honest PMI report says.

January 2026

NDT Appreciation Course Delivered at Our New Lillyhall Training Facility

This week, Responsive Training Services, part of the Test Inspect Group, is pleased to be delivering an NDT Appreciation course for colleagues from Altr…

January 2026

Welding & Inspection Tools – Practical Digital Resources

The Test Inspect Group has developed a suite of practical, web-based tools designed to support engineers, inspectors and welding professionals with comm…

July 2025

Phased Array Ultrasonic Testing: The Modern Advancement in Ultrasonic Inspection

Ultrasonic Testing (UT) has long been a trusted method in the non-destructive testing (NDT) field, used extensively for detecting internal flaws in mate…

July 2025

Remote Visual Inspection: A Modern Shift from Traditional Visual Inspection

Visual inspection has always been a fundamental part of quality assurance and maintenance in various industries, allowing professionals to assess surfac…

July 2025

Why digital radiography may be a better solution than film

Industrial radiography has been an essential tool in various industrial applications for decades, providing crucial information about the internal struc…

News & Insights

Email Is as Old as the Post: Your Inspection Reports Now Live in Your Client Area

Verified Procedures: Check Any Test Inspect NDT Procedure in a Minute

How our 52-week roadmap works, and why clarity creates momentum

We don't get to have a bad day: what Saving Lives, Protecting Communities means

Saturn Four Media joins Test Inspect Group as our communications partner

Backing the Beamish Under-8s

Charpy Impact Testing Explained: Why 27 J at −20°C Is In Your Spec

Remote Visual Inspection: When a Borescope Beats Opening the Asset

Container Inspection to IICL Standards: What Gets a Unit Rejected

Ferroxyl Testing: Finding Free Iron Before It Pits Your Stainless

Flawed Specimens: How Realistic Defects Are Designed and Manufactured

NDT Appreciation Training: What It Covers and Who Actually Needs It

Building the Tools: How Smart Test Technologies Decides What to Make

Inspection and Testing in Southampton | Test Inspect Group

CALT Leak Testing: Proving the Seal on a Radioactive Material Package

ISO 9712 vs PCN: Which NDT Certification Does Your Contract Need?

Reading a Radiograph: Common Weld Defects and How They Appear on Film

Real-Time Inspection Reporting: Why Waiting Three Days for Results Costs You More

What IRR17 Actually Requires Before You Bring Radiography On Site

Magnetic Particle or Dye Penetrant? A Surface Inspection Decision Guide

NDT in Nuclear Decommissioning: What West Cumbria Sites Ask For

Ultrasonic Testing vs Phased Array: Choosing the Right Volumetric Method

Welder Qualification Testing: From Coupon to Certificate, Step by Step

Positive Material Identification: What XRF Can and Cannot Tell You

NDT Appreciation Course Delivered at Our New Lillyhall Training Facility

Welding & Inspection Tools – Practical Digital Resources

Phased Array Ultrasonic Testing: The Modern Advancement in Ultrasonic Inspection

Remote Visual Inspection: A Modern Shift from Traditional Visual Inspection

Why digital radiography may be a better solution than film

Previous PostPhased Array Ultrasonic Testing: The Modern Advancement in Ultrasonic Inspection

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