Further compounding this challenge, some manufacturers offer “free training courses” as sales incentives to purchasers of new equipment. Frequently, these free courses are taught by inexperienced/unqualified instructors, are introductory in nature, and are designed as operator courses for the subject equipment thereby omitting important theory or applications. Because these courses are taught after equipment is delivered, inexperienced purchasers lack the knowledge required to make an informed decision when selecting new equipment.

In order to properly select and specify infrared equipment, buyers should put the horse before the cart by receiving quality certification training from an independent institute prior to equipment purchase. For new users, training should include infrared theory and heat transfer concepts, equipment selection and operation, image capture and analysis, standards compliance, applications-specific inspection techniques, documentation of findings, and temperature measurement techniques.