Certified Pipeline Inspector Program

The Pipeline Inspector Certification Program (PICP) provides the necessary code and regulatory comprehension evaluation to qualify inspection personnel for Contractors and Companies involved in the construction, alteration or repair of pipelines in the oil and gas sector.

CPAC Certificates of Qualification provide evidence of the code and regulatory knowledge required as part of a competency assessment mandated by the Safety and Loss Management System requirements of section 3 of the CSA Z662. The Program is operated in accordance with the ISO/IEC 17024 standard for the certification of persons. Technical assessment is conducted in accordance with the North American Pipeliner Competency Assessment Code with inspector competency requirements based on the CAPP Competency Assessment guide 2009-00005. The API 1169 recommended practice is used as the baseline measure for the Level 3 qualification. The program levels are intended to provide entry (level 2), general practitioner (level 3) and subject matter expert (level 4) verification to address the knowledge required throughout a pipeline inspection career.

Inspector qualifications are as follows:

Level 2: Supervised

Level 3: General Qualification

Pipeline Inspectors perform a critical function in the construction process. Applicants for these credentials must provide evidence of minimum training and experience working in the oil and gas sector. Applicants are required to pass a monitored exam to establish knowledge of code and regulatory requirements.

1. Each new application is valid for a period of 365 days commencing on the date of the first examination completed by the applicant. Upon expiry, if the applicant has been unsuccessful in obtaining the requested certification, a re-submission is required.
2. Examination dates:
   1. Examinations are conducted on predetermined dates at locations chosen from the published list. Special arrangements can be made for alternate times and locations, however additional fees may apply.
   2. Exams may be rescheduled without penalty.
3. Applicants are required to comply with all examination rules. Examination rules are provided with confirmation of exam date. CPAC reserves the right to cancel any applicant’s exam results and withhold certification if non-compliances are discovered.
4. Exam results are emailed approximately 1-3 weeks after completion of the examination.
5. CPAC does not identify failed exam questions to the applicant. An email identifying an exam failure may identify a general area of concern if failed questions appear to have a trend (eg. “A weakness in understanding of environmental requirements is observed.”).
6. Applicants with acceptable submissions and examination results will be granted certification. Applicants who have successful exam results with incomplete or deficient application evidence will not be granted certification until all outstanding issues are resolved. Exam results will be issued.
7. An official parchment certificate and wallet card will be mailed approximately 1-2 weeks after the Certification has been granted.
8. Certifications are valid for the edition of the Code of Construction identified on the certificate. Certified inspectors are required to update their certification to a new Code of Construction within one (1) year of publication. (eg. Certificates for Inspectors certified to the CSA Z662-15 code were valid for 365 days past the publication of the 2019 edition of the Z662)
9. Renewal requires Inspectors to complete a one (1) hour code update exam after which updated certificates will be emailed and replacement wallet cards will be mailed. identifying the new code edition.
10. In addition to successful completion of an invigilated examination, applicants are required to provide evidence of meeting the following minimum criteria for certification.

Initial certification is granted based on an assessment of the applicant’s evidence of minimum pipeline experience combined with their performance on invigilated examination(s).

Note: Verification of minimum pipeline experience is intended to establish a member history and ensure credential suitability. This process does not relieve companies of their obligation, under the Safety and Loss Management System, to establish and verify training and experiential requirements – appropriate for the rolls and responsibilities they intend to fill. CPAC qualifications attest the applicants knowledge of, and ability to interpret, regulatory, code and standard requirements. While certification requires applicants to provide work and training history, the credentials issued do not attest to the suitability of any particular training or range of experience for task assignment, and are limited to a code qualification element for use by companies in conjunction with their training and experience assessment.