Rees NDT Inspection Services head office in Grande Prairie
NORTHERN BC/GRANDE PRAIRIE – Rees NDT Inspection Services has earned its reputation for providing Non Destructive Testing (NDT), over the 46 years the company has been in business, but they also offer a lot more for clients.
“We’re more than an NDT company, as we have welding, machining and pressure testing centers in our building,” notes owners Ron and Mary Vader. “In our machine shop we can perform mechanical inspections rebuild mechanical systems, rebuild valves pretty much anything out there. We can pull apart and put almost anything back together, and we inspect and certify as well.”
“We can pressure test inhouse up to 30000 psi, perform load testing up to 500 tons, tensile and compression. Very helpful for certifying rig handling equipment as per CAOEC RPs. We have just installed a CNC plasma table in our welding center.”
Rees NDT has the personnel, equipment and expertise to meet inspection and certification needs throughout Western Canada. They cover northern B.C., including Dawson Creek, Fort St. John, Grande Cache, and mines in Tumbler Ridge, and they also do work in Nunavut and the Yukon and Northwest Territories.
Ron and Mary Vader are the owners of Rees NDT Inspection Services
“We have a new division for Overhead Crane Inspection and Certification, satisfying CSA B-167-96 code,” notes Vader. “If someone has an older existing crane, we can supply engineering for it. Supply parts and repairs, remote control systems, so we have a really well-trained team to do that, and recommission unused cranes as well. All the electrical and mechanical inspections and repairs are in our scope. Including vehicle hoists. We are currently undergoing ALI training for our inspectors.
“We inspect and certify all types of overhead lift equipment: Mobile cranes, pickers, Manlifts, forklifts, spreader bars, and pipeline equipment like side booms. You name it, we inspect and certify it, and repair a lot of it as well.”
“We’re always training and looking for experienced people,” says Vader, adding their staff has been a key to their growth. A lot of us are 30-plus year veterans of the industry.
“Our success is due to the talented people we have on staff that aren’t scared off by a challenge. right now, we’re certifying over 6,000 pieces of equipment a year. That’s just the mo-bile equipment and cranes.”
Vader originally started working for Rees NDT in the late 1980’s, but suffered a serious crane accident as a worker. He then purchased Rees NDT from his former mentor, Volker Ries.
“The crane accident led me to focus on safety inspections, as I wanted to help prevent anyone from going through the pain I went through. I changed the direction of Rees NDT from a down-hole, tool inspection company to more of an engineering company,” he says, adding they still provide BHA inspections. “I started with myself as the sole inspector to where we are now, employing more than 30 well-trained, experienced people.” Journeypersons in electrical, machining, millwrighting, heavy duty mechanics, welding. Inspectors certified CGSB MT, PT, UT.
Their staff includes members of the Alberta Society of Engineering Technologists who are graduates of NAIT’s Materials Engineering
Technology program and members of the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta, so they are permitted to practice BC, AB, SK, MB, YK, NT, NU.
Rees NDT is a Member of CCAB and is a CAB business, Indigenous owned company, as Vader is of Metis heritage. The firm is certified ISO 9001:2015 CMS, and offers the services of
C.G.S.B. certified inspectors to clients.
“We would really like to leave people with the knowledge that we can inspect, trouble shoot, repair pretty much anything that you can imagine, for the areas we serve,” says Ron.