BIG Partnership

The International Well Control Forum (IWCF) will issue all certificates online, creating significant savings for training providers and greater overall assurance in the oil and gas industry.

IWCF – the independent, not-for-profit organisation, which sets international training standards for well control – introduced eCerts to offer significant benefits to users including improved quality and delivery of certificates, while combating instances of fraud.

Combined with the fully integrated digital assessment solution the IWCF eCerts bring the entire process online.

Industry feedback has also led to the introduction of a new optional grading descriptor system. This will create transparency on the level of pass, with ‘Pass with Merit’ awarded for 80-89% and ‘Pass with Distinction’ awarded for 90-100%.

The digital assessment solution will allow candidates to take online assessments using an internet connection or offline, with connectivity only required to initiate the schedule and upload the results. This will significantly improve the customer experience with increased booking flexibility, the ability for instant re-sits, and much faster delivery times for eCerts.

Antony Quin, Chief Executive Officer of IWCF, said: “We’ve been driving this change in certification over the last 18 months. It will greatly benefit candidates, employers and training providers by making our certification process more streamlined and efficient. This is important to our members so we’re pleased to have reached this milestone.

“The IWCF eCerts cannot be replicated or copied due to in-built meta-data security measures, which means qualifications can be traced back to their origin. Although fraud isn’t common, it can happen. This introduction makes it easier for all employers to confirm that eCerts are genuine.”

IWCF’s online administration platform, FORUM, which is used for candidate registrations and schedule bookings, is central to the new certifications. Using Mozilla’s Open Badges network, successful candidates will be awarded a digital badge, which can be shared on social media to celebrate their achievement.

The introduction of eCerts comes as IWCF celebrates a record breaking number of candidates in March 2018, with figures up 25% against 2017.

On 1 September 2017 STICHTING INTERNATIONAL WELL CONTROL FORUM (a foundation established in The Netherlands with registered number 41157732 (“Stichting”) agreed to donate all of its undertakings and assets to (i) INTERNATIONAL WELL CONTROL FORUM a Scottish charitable incorporated organisation incorporated under the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 (Scottish charity number SC045842) and having its principal office at Inchbraoach House, Montrose, Angus DD10 9UA (“IWCF SCIO”) and (ii) IWCF OPERATIONS LIMITED, a wholly owned subsidiary of IWCF SCIO, a company registered under the law of Scotland with company number SC568731 whose registered office is at Inchbraoach House, Montrose, Angus DD10 9UA (“IWCF OpCo”).

The donation includes the transfer of the personal data for which the Stichting was the data controller. IWCF SCIO and IWCF OpCo are now each a data controller for the purpose of the Data Protection Act 1998 and will continue to process personal data in the same way as the Stichting. For further information on the use of personal data please see https://www.iwcf-forum.org/Terms.aspx

Should you have any questions relating to this transfer please email: iwcfinformation@iwcf.org