ISA 98.00.01 PDF

Qualifications and Certification of Control System Technicians

ISA 98.00.01 – Qualifications and Certification of Control System Technicians

1 Scope

This standard identifies the recommended criteria for certification of control system technicians. Thesecriteria address qualifications based on education, experience, training, and job performance.

2 Purpose

The purpose of this standard is to provide industry with basis for certifying the qualifications of controlsystems technicians who work on facility equipment that is important to safe and efficient operations, inorder to help reduce the possibility that unqualified personnel could perform improper maintenance onsuch equipment. It is intended solely as a recommendation for functional organization, and offers astructured basis for certification of control system technicians in each specific facility where they may beused.

The standard describes three (3) technician categories or levels, which are intended as functionaldescriptions of typical skill proficiency and competency levels identified at numerous facilities as well asempirically in job analysis. These are essentially points of reference for application of this standard to aspecific facility situation. No specific number of categories, levels, or classifications are required by thisstandard since each facility has its own organizational structure and the information contained in thisstandard is not intended to change existing organizational arrangements.

This standard also recognizes that each facility or company needs a certification program, procedure,and/ or plan to cross-reference the relationship between the facility job descriptions/categories and thethree (3) functional levels. The key to this cross-reference is the existence of a good representative jobdescription of each type of technician at a facility.

This standard can be used independently in circumstances where no equivalent, formally accreditedprogram exists, although formal accreditation by a recognised and reliable accreditor is stronglyrecommended. It is not intended, however, to set forth qualifications, which differ according to theindividual job descriptions in each organization. For example, the “Typical knowledge and skills list”included as Annex A is meant to be a guideline only.