1.3 Level I vs Level II vs Level III Responsibilities

Why duty lines are exam content, not org-chart trivia

ASNT's career pages and every employer written practice describe NDT Level I, NDT Level II, and NDT Level III as different grants of authority. Specific-exam items and many general items are really asking: who is allowed to do this next action? If you answer from job-title habit (“I have been doing it for years”), you will pick the Level III action on a Level II question or let a Level I interpret a rejectable crack. This guide prepares Level II. Learn the ceiling as carefully as the floor.

The duty language below follows the long-standing SNT-TC-1A / CP-189 split that US written practices copy. Individual employers may tighten it; they rarely loosen the idea that procedure ownership sits at Level III and independent interpretation sits at Level II.

Define the three levels

NDT Level I is qualified to perform specific calibrations, specific NDT, and specific evaluations for acceptance or rejection — but only according to written instructions — and to record results. A Level I receives the necessary instruction and supervision from a certified Level II or Level III. “Written instructions” means a work instruction, technique sheet, or traveler that already chose the method, technique, and accept/reject rule. A Level I is not the person who decides the technique from a bare code paragraph.

NDT Level II is qualified to set up and calibrate equipment and to interpret and evaluate results with respect to applicable codes, standards, and specifications as implemented in an approved procedure. A Level II must know the scope and limitations of each method held, must organize and report results, and has assigned responsibility for on-the-job training and guidance of trainees and Level I personnel. That is the autonomous field technician ASNT describes: read the procedure, perform the inspection, document completely.

NDT Level III is capable of establishing techniques and procedures, interpreting codes, standards, specifications, and procedures, and designating the NDT methods, techniques, and procedures to be used. A Level III is responsible for the NDT operations assigned, can interpret and evaluate results in terms of existing codes when writing or qualifying techniques, needs enough materials and fabrication background to help set acceptance criteria when none exist, should have general familiarity with other NDT methods, and is capable of training and examining Level I and Level II personnel for certification. ASNT's career language adds the manager-level work: auditing documentation, supervising teams, and running the internal certification program.

What “interpret and evaluate per procedure” actually allows

Level II authority is broad inside a procedure and narrow outside it.

Inside the procedure, a Level II may:

• Select among allowed techniques (for example, yoke versus coil, water-washable versus post-emulsifiable, 0-degree versus angle beam) when the procedure lists those options and the selection rules.
• Set instrument controls, magnetization current, exposure, or scanning pattern to the procedure's essential variables.
• Characterize indications as relevant, nonrelevant, or false using the method's evaluation rules.
• Apply the acceptance standard named in the procedure (a workmanship table, an ASME reference, a customer spec).
• Reject a part, request blend-and-reinspect, or accept it, and own the report.
• Stop a Level I who is skipping a process-control check.

Outside the procedure, a Level II must stop. Examples that belong to Level III:

• The procedure does not cover this alloy, thickness, or geometry.
• The customer wants a different acceptance class than the procedure states.
• A new technique (phased array instead of conventional shear wave, digital radiography instead of film) is proposed.
• Someone asks you to “just initial” a procedure revision.
• The written practice needs a new exam or a reduced experience alternative.

Some shops authorize experienced Level IIs to draft work instructions that implement a Level III procedure on a specific part. That is still Level II work only when the Level III procedure already exists and the Level III (or the written practice) allows the draft. Writing the procedure that cites the code is Level III work. The post-15-December-2026 MT outline even lists “develop MT work instructions” as a future general-exam duty; that does not move procedure approval down to Level II.

Supervision, reporting, and the Level I relationship

“Supervision” of a Level I is not the same as standing over every yoke stroke. It means the Level II (or III) has assigned the work, confirmed the instruction is the right one, is available to resolve indications the instruction does not cover, and reviews the records. A Level I who finds an unexpected linear indication should not close the report as “accept — grinding mark.” That call is Level II interpretation.

Reporting is a Level II skill the VT, MT, PT, RT, and UT outlines all test. A complete Level II report identifies the procedure and revision, the part and product form, the technique essential variables, calibration or process-control results, indication descriptions (location, size, type), and the accept/reject decision against the named standard. “NDT OK” with no essentials is not a Level II report.

Level II also guides Level I and trainees. Guidance includes demonstrating a setup, checking a concentration test, and explaining why a magnetic-writing indication is nonrelevant. Guidance does not include letting the Level I invent a new technique or signing a certification record as if you were the Level III examiner.

Realistic shop scenarios

Yoke weld exam. A Level I, working to a technique sheet, performs a yoke examination on a fillet weld and records a linear powder buildup at the toe. The sheet says “record all linear indications and notify Level II.” The Level II measures the indication, compares it to the visual plus MT acceptance table in the welding procedure specification, and rejects the weld. The Level I correctly stopped. The Level II correctly interpreted. Rewriting the acceptance table after the customer complains is Level III (and customer) work.

Silent geometry. A Level II UT technician is asked to inspect a branch connection the procedure never sketches. The technician may not invent a scan plan and call it “equivalent.” The correct action is to stop and obtain a Level III technique extension or a revised procedure. Specific-exam items punish the heroic improviser.

Training request. A supervisor tells a Level II to “certify” two new hires because the Level III is on vacation. The Level II may give on-the-job training and may sign as the person who observed practice hours if the written practice allows. The Level II may not write the certification, administer the qualification exams, or issue the employer certificate. Those are Level III (and written-practice) acts.

Procedure conflict. Two codes named in a job package disagree on lighting intensity for fluorescent MT. Choosing which code governs, or writing a procedure that resolves the conflict, is Level III. The Level II follows the approved procedure once it exists and documents the light-meter reading it requires.

Hold a simple test in your head on every duty item: instruction follower (I), procedure user and reporter (II), procedure and program owner (III). This study guide trains the middle box — the ASNT NDT Level II written exams — not the Level III Basic exam and not a Level I checklist course.