Thier is much more to an inspection than just a light. I have taken the wourse now 2 times. It is a renewable course because of hte fed requirement for hasmat reoccuring training its 300 for the course and 200 apx for the refresher. I ahve not asked but in my opinion the vis process should be good for ever adn teh refresh be done for the hasmat. Either way, teh inspection process is not just look into a tank for oil and then close it up. The purpose of the course is to provide teh training and skills to properly do a vis so that if an accident does happen you can document that it is not the inspectors fault from neglegence through inadaquate inspeciton process. PSI is the only federally accepted certification agency for cylendar inspection. Not to say other agencies are not legit only that they are not federally accepted. For those that say whats the difference? There are some cylendars that can only be inspected by a PSI certifier. No other agencies vis sticker is valid on those tanks. What PSI did was took all the regs that are in place by the agencies dot cga ect and made a course to train inspectors to inspect while complying with all those regulatory agencies. Failure to be 100% compliant in a courtroom would be teh end of a business as far as shops go. The require inspection paperwork with pictures and diagrams and comments to be made on every tank inspected. They issue a number fo the inspector to afix to the tank he inspected just like a hydro guy has a stamp. This is done because there is a requirement that the inspection be tracable. Not to a company or shop but to the person. I will give you that i think PSI will take things to the extreem when it comes to what if’s however that is just what a lawyer will do to fix fault in the event of an accident to those with the deepest pockets. Comments have been made tha PSI is pissed about other agencies copying thier course. Honestly i dont know why they would be. The information is all out there. Once agin if i hadd to fault PSI at anything , it would be attaching the hasmat renewal to the vis certification being good for only 3 years. I thik that is pretty chicken. I can tell you that if you have a clean tank the vis is a brease but have one pit and teh show is on. I would venture to guess that if you asked most anyone about exemption’s or SP’s that are doing vis’s they would say HUH. Or suthorization to stamp tanks or teh removal from service legal ramifications. One thing for sure the PSI phylosophy is to find a way to pass a tank. If a spec is no more than 60 then 60 is passing. if its 63 you get another opinion or use other tools to verifying the inperfection is a failing one. Probably no one knows that if you get a tank and its deformed like a banana shape then it can still pass. I thinkthat those who are anti PSI are not giving them a fair shake. Sometimes you get what you pay for.