AWS certification & Special Inspection

[WB_ENG]

Hello,

Its been a long time since I posted to the forum, had to create a new user name.

I find myself in an odd situation where I could use some clarity.

We have a guy whos done alot of welding, I'm told hes good at it but his AWS certification/qualification is either non-existent or outdated. He is saying he was qualified the engineering corps and this is usually an acceptable substitute. I'm not at all familiar with this or what substitutes for what. Got me.

Most of the welding will be done in a shop thats certified, however there are a couple welds which will need to be done in the field and thats where this guy would come in. One of these welds is important thats done right.

I had been mulling over if the welds he does are fully inspected be special inspection and UT tested - does that alleviate any qualification requirements?

This hasn't happened yet but, had been wondering what one does when you find out the person who did your field welding doesn't have an active qualification or certification? If I was in that situation I suppose I'd probably rely upon xray or UT or some manner of inspection to assure quality but haven't had the problem before.

No permits on the job - so technically none of this is required by IBC and we are the owners...but I still like to follow code in that situation as thats what we hold the contractors to seems fair we'd hold ourselves to the same standard.

Thanks,
Will

 

[Enable]

The weld inspectors we work with all ask for the welder to present tickets or for the GC to furnish copies if the welder has left site. Should a welder not be qualified for a particular weld all that happens is that the inspector makes a note in their report - along with if the weld passed or not - and leave it to the EOR to accept/not-accept.

In the vast majority of circumstances - where a weld is a common one to be certified for - welders won't even be allowed on-site without tickets. However, there are certain circumstances such as rebar splicing where we allow a non-ticketed welder to perform the repair and rely on the inspection for QC(visual mostly but for critical welds UT/Xray/Destructive Testing/Etc). The reason that is allowed is because there are only 42 companies in my Province certified to the rebar splicing standard, and nearly all of them do not perform weldments for 3rd parties. If they do it's not for one offs.

What I am trying to say is the EOR has ultimate authority on the matter. And there is precedent for EORs accepting welds performed by non-ticketed welders as long as there is sufficient inspection. Though in most cases I would suspect they would be loathe to do so because it ultimately is one less assurance for them; why would they take on that extra responsibility?

Though, if it was my welder on my job I would be satisfied with the inspection route. But also tell them to go get the darn tickets. It's not that big of a deal for most welds!