Before I started this business, I worked for a boss who put inspection into perspective with one comparison. When a doctor has an off day, one patient feels it. When an inspector misses something on an aircraft component, it is everyone on board who is relying on him, and everyone on the ground below.
I have never forgotten it. The number of people relying on our work is far bigger than the number we will ever meet. That is why our purpose is not a strapline we bolted on. Saving Lives. Protecting Communities. is a plain description of what our work is for.
The failure you never hear about
Nobody writes a news story about the weld that didn't crack, the crane that didn't drop its load, or the valve that held at pressure on the seabed. When inspection works, nothing happens. That is the whole point, and it is why the job is easy to undervalue.
Think about what passes through our hands. Lifting equipment and crane components at Sellafield. Welds destined for nuclear plant, where the standards are unforgiving for good reason. Check valves and subsea hardware heading offshore. Pipework and pressure systems in factories on ordinary industrial estates, a few hundred metres from houses and schools. Components for defence and aerospace. Every one of them is someone's working day, and someone's journey home.
Our technicians look for the flaw inside the weld, the wall that has quietly thinned below its minimum, the crack that only shows when somebody bothers to look properly. They are the last line before a component goes into service. Often they are the only people who will ever see what is inside it.
Saving lives means the right decision, every time
Our mission is to employ the best people so that they always make the right decisions, even in the worst situations. The worst situations in our industry are rarely dramatic. They are a job that has to be finished before the client's inspector arrives at 10am, a part the production line is waiting for, a reading that is borderline at four o'clock on a Friday.
That is when standards matter most, because that is when the pressure to let something go is highest. Pressure doesn't change standards. A defect is reported whether it suits the programme or not, and a result goes on a certificate only when we would stand behind it in front of anyone.
It starts with competence. Our people hold PCN Level 2 and Level 3 certification under ISO 9712, CSWIP welding inspection qualifications, and the codings and approvals that nuclear and offshore work demand. Certification isn't a formality. It is the evidence that the person holding the probe knows what they are looking at.
Protecting communities means our own, too
A lot of what we do involves ionising radiation. Industrial radiography is one of the most effective ways to see inside a weld, and done carelessly it is dangerous to the radiographer and to anyone nearby. Protecting communities starts with protecting our own people and the public around every job.
So we don't treat radiation safety as paperwork. We work to the Ionising Radiations Regulations 2017, with Radiation Protection Adviser support, and we have built our own systems to take human error out of the equation where we can: safety interlocks on radiography bays that stop an exposure the moment a door opens, remote emergency stops, and tools that keep track of every source, every compound and every exposure calculation.
Communities also means the places we come from. We are based in Cumbria, Durham and Southampton. Our people live in the towns around the sites we inspect. We train the next generation at our Lillyhall facility, and we back local grassroots sport because those are our families on the touchline.
Proof, not promises
Anyone can put a purpose on a website. The question is what sits behind it.
- UKAS-accredited ISO 9001 certification through World Certification Services, held since the day we started and audited across our Cumbria, Durham and Southampton sites.
- Every report, certificate, calibration and qualification in one system, FLAWHawk, which we built ourselves. It tracks every technician's certification and eye test and every piece of equipment's calibration, and flags them before they lapse rather than after.
- Reports that follow the work, not the week. Clients see results as soon as the inspection is signed off, with a full audit trail behind every figure.
- Five specialist businesses working as one Group. Flawed, Responsive, JML Inspection, RadPro and Smart Test Technologies. When one is at capacity, another picks the work up, so the standard doesn't drop when the diary is full.
Why it matters to you
If you are one of our clients, you are trusting us with more than a certificate. You are trusting us with your people, your reputation and the public who will never know our name. We take that personally.
My old boss was right. The people relying on us deserve our best day, every day. That is what Saving Lives. Protecting Communities. means at Test Inspect, and it is what every one of us signs up to when we pick up the kit.
Lee Grears, CEO, Test Inspect Group
