PIC brings FROSIO to Latin America
Paint-inspector.com (PIC) is the first FROSIO training body to make the FROSIO paint inspector course available in Latin America. “The PIC team is proud to present the FROSIO curriculum in a new setting. The full course content and exams will be in Spanish and Portuguese, depending on the course location,” explained Richard van der Wal, CEO of Paint-Inspector.Com.
The premiere course in the region will be held in Panama City, Panama in June of this year, organized by PICs affiliate, PIC Americas, S.A., represented by Reinder J. Geertsma. Practical classes, online learning support and course content has been fully adapted and translated into the Spanish language. This includes quizzes and knowledge checks designed to aid PICs students in their learning and incorporates custom made animations, illustrating the occurrence of corrosion in different environments, the way certain materials and chemicals interact during a coating’s lifecycle, the connection between design and paint performance and much more.
| PICs courses are designed as a combination of online and in-class study, ending in a theoretical and practical exam day overseen by an official FROSIO examiner. This is when the students get the chance to acquire the internationally recognized FROSIO certification. Students have access to the online learning materials several months in advance, while the in-class portion of the course in Panama, lasting 4 days, will begin on June 26th and end with the exam day on June 29th. |
FROSIO is the only organization conducting certification according to the ISO 17024 standard. The certification scheme has three levels, but the FROSIO exam needs to be passed only once. Afterwards, the certificate remains valid for 5 years before it needs to be renewed at a fee of 150 euro.
The FROSIO certification scheme is set apart by how it values the experience coating specialists acquire in the field. The three distinct levels of the certificate are based on the number of years they have spent acquiring relevant experience. If a student with no relevant experience successfully passes the practical and theoretical parts of the FROSIO exam, they become the holders of a level I certificate. Having acquired at least 2 years of experience, the inspector ascends to level II. Finally, with 5 years relevant experience, where a minimum of 2 years is documented inspection experience, holders of the FROSIO certificate can apply to be upgraded to the highest level. The entire upgrade procedure is processed online, through the FROSIO portal.
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As defined by FROSIO, relevant experience pertaining to surface treatment is considered to be: “Work directly connected to pre-treatment of metallic surface, application of paint and other coatings for corrosion prevention and the inspection of such work. Such experience may be obtained within one or more of the field of shipbuilding industry, marine and offshore installations, energy and power industry, roads and railroads, or industrial plants. Furthermore, experience of workshops, building industry, chemical process and paint coating industries will be considered as relevant.” |
After certification coating specialists can join PICs global inspection network, opening up the chance to work on projects locally or abroad. Register, fill out your work experience, list the certificates you’ve acquired and gain easy access to new job opportunities. “PICs aim has always been to foster a global network of qualified inspectors who will tackle today’s challenges. This step is in perfect alignment with our goal and we are very excited to bring our product to the South American continent,” Richard van der Wal noted.
After Panama, PIC is bringing its paint inspector course to students in Brazil, Colombia and Argentina. Outside of Latin America, courses in Portuguese are scheduled in Portugal and Angola later this year. The FROSIO course in the English language is also available upon request. If a business with a sufficient number of students has interest in the course tailor made arrangements can be made, adjusting the time spent online and in-class, with our experienced educators.
If you’d like to get more information about PICs courses and discuss this opportunity in the name of yourself or your company, please get in touch. Write to reinder@paint-inspector.com or info@paint-inspector.com.