If you are an experienced coatings individual this presentation might bore you. I am just giving you fair warning because this presentation is geared to those of you who are NOT knowledgeable in this industry. By that I mean owners, engineers, or architect and people who have no real coatings experience.
Hiring an independent 3rd party coatings inspector should be written into the coating specifications of all high-performance coatings' projects because of the complexity inherent in this industry; particularly in the complexity in the standards which govern a project's successful completion.
I will focus on actual projects I have been involved in as I proceed to give those of you who are NOT deeply involved in the coatings industry an idea of the complexity of these standards industry. How complex?
First of all, both NACE & SSPC EACH HAVE CERTIFICATION PROGRAMS!
The NACE International Institute Contractor Accreditation Program (NIICAP) is an industry managed accreditation program that validates a contractor's quality assurance program, support practices, and production processes.
SSPC established the Coating Application Specialist (CAS) Certification Program for industrial painters in 2008, at present there are 8 standards for applicators. It includes QP1 FIELD APPLICATION TO COMPLEX INDUSTRIAL AND MARINE STRUCTURES, QP2 FIELD REMOVAL OF HAZARDOUS COATINGS and QP3 SHOP PAINTING ACCREDITATION PROGRAM.
I have more than a few examples to emphasize how complex these NACE/SSPC Standard really are and in this presentation, they take shape from real life scenarios.
My first example take place in the hills of Pennsylvania at a rehabilitated water treatment plant where paint is delaminating from a below ground concrete wall. Twelve inches of concrete separate the failure from a lined filtration basin.
The phone call came into my office and a voice on the other end of the phone said, "Your paint is coming off the walls of the basement of our Water Treatment Plant that we just finished rehabilitating".
