Certifications

Certifications

The following Certifications are designed to lower a facility owner’s risk when hiring an industrial coating contractor for installing coatings on a complex industrial structures or removing hazardous coatings from the same.

The Society for Protective Coatings QP-1 Certification
QP-1 certification is a nationally recognized program that evaluates the practices of industrial painting contractors in key areas of business. These standards are considered the minimum level of service and quality for today’s coating industry.

The complex nature of coating systems and the specific surface preparations required for these systems have made the QP 1 guidelines vital to the longevity of applied protective coatings.
The program is designed to provide facility owners and specification writers a means to determine whether the painting contractor has the capability to perform surface preparation and coating application in the field on complex industrial structures

To be certified by the SSPC, industrial contractors must demonstrate competence in several key areas such as management procedures, quality control, safety and environmental compliance, and technical capabilities. These areas are evaluated through a series of submittals to SSPC describing the contractor’s business operations. Then an impartial, on-site audit of a representative active job site, and headquarter offices is performed to verify that programs and practices are in fact implemented and used.

The QP-1 certification was originally organized to answer an industry need voiced by contractors, owners, and others who hire industrial painting contractors. At that time, the industry did not have a national standard to evaluate the primary capability of the contractor prior to a contract award.

The Society for Protective Coatings QP-2 Certification
The QP 2 certification is a nationally recognized program that evaluates the capabilities of industrial paint contractors for their ability to safely remove and properly manage hazardous paint removal operations. The QP 2 certification requires demonstrated competence in four key areas such as management of hazardous paint removal projects, technical capabilities related to hazardous paint removal, personnel qualifications and training. Lastly, safety and environmental compliance programs.

QP 2 was developed by consensus to meet the industries need for better management and control on projects involving the removal of hazardous paint from industrial structures. The standard and certification were designed to build on the guidelines established in QP 1, and provide facility owners with a means to evaluate the primary capability of industrial paint contractors specific to the needs of hazardous paint removal projects.

1. Obtain the services of a professional, industrial painting contractor who has the experience painting complex industrial structures.
2. Obtain the services of a contractor who is committed and confident enough of its abilities to allow an impartial third party to visit its primary place of business and an active work site to assess its capability to meet the standards set forth.
3. Obtain the services of a company that has been evaluated by a professional auditor with coatings industry experience who has visited numerous other painting contractors, job sites, and shop facilities.
4. Obtain the services of a contractor that has developed and demonstrated compliance programs and practices for quality, safety and environmental protection during industrial painting operations
5. Obtain the services of a contractor that has demonstrated competence in managing a professional industrial coating operation.
6. Obtain an experienced contractor who has demonstrated competence in key project areas. This increases the likelihood that your maintenance investment is sound – that the protective coatings work intended to protect your assets is completed within specification, and will achieve its intended service life without premature failure. The odds are increased that work will be done without safety and environmental compliance violations that may tarnish your company’s image or put your company and your clients at increased risk.