When Training Leaves the Classroom How Thermography Expertise Pays Off in the Real World
why training matters
Training has something of an image problem. It can sound like the thing that happens before the real work begins: a course, a certificate, a few days away from site, followed by a return to the equipment, inspections, and maintenance decisions that supposedly matter more.
Thermography makes that distinction difficult to maintain. When an inspector identifies a loose connection before it fails, recognizes that an existing anomaly has become critical, or produces evidence strong enough for a maintenance team to shut down equipment before a catastrophic failure, training is no longer separate from the work. It has become part of the result.
For nearly four decades, the Infrared Training Center (ITC) has focused on developing that professional competency, with the material supplied for this issue recording more than 30,000 certified thermographers across 65+ countries. The more interesting figure, however, is not simply how many people have completed the training. It is what happens when they put that knowledge to work.
THE TRAINING IS NO LONGER SEPARATE FROM THE WORK.
It is part of the result.
CERTIFIED THERMOGRAPHERS ACROSS 65+ COUNTRIES
The Camera Is Only the Starting Point
—Real value comes from turning thermal data into decisions people can trust.
cASE STUDY 01 one fuse. a potential $1 million problem.
During customer-site training at a manufacturing facility, ITC East Coast instructor Brian Burns encountered a fault that made the return on thermography expertise unusually tangible.
While surveying high-voltage equipment for a smelter, Burns identified a fuse operating at more than 538°C (1000°F). According to the account supplied by ITC, failure of the severely overheating fuse could have resulted in more than $1 million in equipment damage and lost production time.
The customer therefore gained considerably more than an interesting thermal image. They gained the opportunity to investigate and intervene while the problem was still a maintenance issue, rather than after it had become a failure.
That distinction is important. Training did not prevent the fault from developing in the first place; it helped somebody recognize what the fault could become. And that is often where the real return on professional thermography appears: in the space between the first detectable warning and the eventual consequence.
The Most Valuable Hotspot Is the One You Find Before It Becomes a Failure.
POTENTIAL DAMAGE AND LOST PRODUCTION AVOIDED
cASE STUDY 02
The Fault Was Known. The Risk Had Changed.
Another example supplied by ITC demonstrates a different, but equally important, role for thermography: recognizing when an existing condition is no longer the condition you thought it was.
At a refinery, the electrical department was moving its infrared condition-monitoring program towards route-based execution using updated software. During development of those inspection routes, the team revisited a previously identified anomaly and discovered that its severity had progressed from P4 to P1, requiring immediate attention.
The underlying problem was a loose connection which, according to the internal company message supplied with the case, could have failed catastrophically and caused equipment damage and an extended outage. Operations responded by shutting the unit down, electrically isolating the equipment, carrying out the repair, and then returning the unit to service.
That is an important distinction in condition monitoring because thermography is not only about discovering faults that nobody knew existed. It also provides a way to track how known conditions develop over time.
A problem that was reasonable to monitor yesterday may require immediate intervention tomorrow. The expertise lies in recognizing when that line has been crossed, rather than assuming that known also means stable.
cASE STUDY 03
When the Inspection That Didn’t Happen Matters
Sometimes the value of an inspection becomes clearest in hindsight.
The material supplied for this article cites the investigation following the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse and the electrical failures aboard the Dali. Its quoted executive summary states that, had infrared thermal imaging been used to inspect the vessel’s high-voltage switchboard connections as part of the preventive-maintenance program, the loose Wire 1 may have been identified.
The document also records the scale of the incident: six people on the bridge died, people aboard the Dali were injured, damage to the vessel exceeded $18 million excluding cargo, and replacement of the bridge was expected to cost billions of dollars.
It is important not to overstate what thermography could have changed. Infrared inspection cannot guarantee that every failure will be prevented, and the quoted investigation does not claim that an inspection definitely would have prevented this incident. What it does demonstrate is something more measured, but still significant: problems that remain invisible to the human eye can leave thermal evidence before failure occurs.
The opportunity therefore depends on two things happening together: carrying out the inspection in the first place, and having somebody capable of recognizing what the resulting evidence means.
Thermal image of a hot connection
“We found that if infrared thermal imaging, an inspection technique that allows inspectors to identify possible points of failure in electrical components not visible to the human eye, had been used to inspect the Dali’s high-voltage switchboard connections as part of the vessel’s preventative maintenance program, the loose Wire 1 may have been identified.”
—xiii of the Executive Summary
QUALIFICATION IS BECOMING PART OF THE EXPECTATION.
That connection between technology and expertise is increasingly reflected in maintenance requirements themselves.
Following the 2021 collapse of the Champlain Towers South condominium in Surfside, Florida, which killed 98 people and triggered wider scrutiny of building safety and inspection practices, Miami-Dade County strengthened its building recertification program.
The revised requirements described in the supplied material include infrared thermography inspections of electrical systems operating at 400 amps or greater, with those inspections carried out by a Level II or higher certified infrared thermographer who meets specified qualification and experience requirements.
The implication is relatively straightforward: recognizing the value of thermography also means recognizing the importance of the person conducting the inspection.
Owning an infrared camera gives an organisation the ability to collect thermal data. It does not, by itself, provide the expertise required to interpret that data correctly.
nfpa 70b raises the bar
NFPA 70B reinforces the same principle within electrical preventive maintenance. The excerpts supplied for this article state that infrared thermography should be used where required to verify temperature differences and specify that:
“Testing personnel shall be qualified to operate the test equipment used in the type of test to be performed.”
The supplied sections also call for measurement equipment to be calibrated, with calibration traceable to recognized national standards, and for records to include both as-found and as-left test results.
Taken together, those requirements turn thermography into something far more structured than walking through a facility looking for colorful anomalies. The inspection requires a competent operator, measurements that can be trusted, and findings that show conditions before and after intervention to be understood and compared.
In other words, the process needs to be repeatable and defensible. And that leads back to the same conclusion demonstrated by the real-world examples: good equipment creates data; qualified people create confidence in the data.
NFPA 70B
“Testing personnel shall be qualified to operate the test equipment used in the type of test to be performed.”
FLIR Academy: Turning Features Into Field Skills
Professional thermography knowledge is one side of the equation. Knowing how to get the most from the particular equipment in your hands is the other.
FLIR Academy provides product-focused training around FLIR thermal imaging cameras and practical applications, with the supplied material presenting options for users at different levels of experience. These include camera-specific online learning designed to help users apply thermal technology more effectively in their everyday inspection work. Current course listings shown in the material include training around the T-Series, iXX-Series, and Exx-Series.
That makes ITC and FLIR Academy complementary rather than interchangeable. ITC helps build the thermographer; FLIR Academy helps that thermographer get more from the FLIR technology they use.
One develops the underlying science, measurement discipline, and professional judgement required to interpret thermal information. The other reduces the distance between knowing that a camera has a particular capability and understanding how to use that capability effectively in the field.
Together, they reinforce a useful truth about modern inspection technology: as the tool becomes smarter, understanding what it is doing—and why—becomes more valuable, not less.
