Yes, it is required. ASME's 'Written Practice' is SNT-TC1a's 'Qualified Procedure'. Any reputable NDT show will have these. And any competent Owner's Inspector will be able to see to it that these procedures are actually followed by the field techs. B31.3 work requires you to provide the Inspector, and that Inspector will make certain that all work, from material spec & grade, welding & welding procedures, and NDT are all performed i.a.w. Code. Don't just hire a CWI and assume that he/she is competent to provide oversight on all the non-welding items.
Per B31.3, the Owner appoints the Inspector, who needn't work directly for the Owner. The Inspector may not be an employee of the Contractor performing the work. The Owner's Inspector is responsible for determining the qualification of examiners (340.4(c)). SNT-TC-1A may be used as a guide (342.1 Note 1).
So the 'Written Practice' is required by SNT-TC-1A. But only when it is used, right? But SNT-TC-1A is no requirement. It MAY be used, yes.
But our examiners have a third-party qualification acc. to ACCP. Certificates of the ACCP qualification are available. There is no internal (i'm not sure if this is the right word for that) qualification of the examiners. So WE don't use the SNT-TC-1A because of the external qualification, right? And when we send our examiners to a third-party company for qualification we do not need a 'written practice', right?
B31.3 just requires "Examiners shall have training and experience comensurate with the needs of the specified examinations. The employer shall certify records of the examiners employed, showing and results of personnel qualificaions, and shall maintain them and make them available to the inspector". (342.1)
When I make the ACCP qualification reports available to the inspector everything is fine or not?
Don't be surprised if the Owner's Inspector asks for your testing procedures. You should have something in writing as to how your ACCP Level II techs will perform the testing. Personally, I just use procedures from a reputable companies 'Written Practice'. Those are time-tested, have survived multiple audits, and have been approved by a Level III.
Ok, thanks guys!
Test procedure are available for all testing methods, so i think we are fine. But you're right, it's up to the inspector. So i'm going to create a written practice for the future.
