IN 1571 – Verification of IMCA Certificates

IMCA has launched a new online facility for the verification of certificates issued to those working in safety-critical roles, as part of its wider digital transformation initiative.

This adds to the existing service of verification through the IMCA offices (which remains available for any additional queries), with instant verification online any time, rather than being limited to our office hours.

A new search facility is available now at www.imca-int.com/verify. It enables contractors and other interested parties to check the status of certificates provided to them by IMCA-certified diving supervisors, life support technicians and DP practitioners.

Users must be logged in to the website to use the facility, as a precaution against data scraping, and are reminded that the search facility is for legitimate business reasons only (to verify a certificate provided by its holder). Use of the search facility is recorded, and additional protections are in place to ensure the security of personal data.

Since 1 January 2021, it has been mandatory for IMCA-certified diving supervisors to maintain a record of CPD, which is normally achieved using the IMCA Diving CPD App. The verification portal indicates whether the required progress has been achieved in order to maintain ‘in-date’ status.

The existing ‘Share Progress’ feature in the IMCA Diving CPD App will soon be updated to automatically redirect to the new verification portal. Detailed progress information will only be displayed if shared via the app, as is the case with the current system.

DP practitioners are required to revalidate their certificates annually, with a three-yearly review of evidence. The verification portal will indicate in-date status or otherwise. Online revalidation will be added soon.

IMCA will shortly be updating the design of its certificates to include personalised sharing links and QR codes, 
further easing the verification process. Updated digital certificates will be issued to:

• Newly certified individuals, who will also receive the updated physical card.
• All those who have revalidated their diving supervisor certificates in 2021.
• Existing holders of DP practitioner and company DP authority certificates.

An additional Information Note provides full details, to help contractors and clients recognise the new designs.

A registration facility will follow later this year for life support technicians (LSTs), so that existing certificate holders can review and update the information held in IMCA’s databases, with the new style certificates provided to them in response, free of charge.

Further details on the registration system, and plans to provide CPD content for LSTs, will be issued in due course.