I had the privilege of teaching the NACE (now AMPP) Coating Inspector Program (CIP) from 1999 to 2021. It was a distinct pleasure to work with the many inspector candidates (I estimate I had approximately 5000 students during those 22 years). And working with fellow instructors with such a wide variety of experience and skills was a truly enriching experience.

During my tenure I participated in many committees, forums and meetings where the curriculum was discussed with a view to ensuring it remained relevant. I was a strong voice for changing the curriculum to ensure it reflected what the industry was expecting from a well and truly trained and experienced inspector. For a variety of reasons, initiating change from within was very difficult to the point that in 2021 I decided to retire from teaching CIP.

Although I retired from teaching CIP, I have remained very active in the industry. Leaving the teaching role has permitted me to gain a fresh perspective on the role of a coating inspector. Working directly with owners who have experienced pre-mature catastrophic coating failure with repair costs into the millions has given me pause to review the inspector’s role in those failures. Sadly, I find that many of these failures could have been avoided or at least minimized if the inspector was doing his/her job correctly.

Therefore, by means of this blog and my YouTube Channel, I will be providing information regarding what you as an inspector can do to add value to the projects you are involved with.

Stay tuned.