6. Welding personnel¶
General competence¶
All personnel involved in welding and related activities are competent for the work undertaken, through appropriate experience, external training, nationally/internationally recognised schemes (e.g. CSWIP, PCN) or internal training.
Qualification of welders and operators¶
Welders and operators complete qualification tests for the work they undertake, to EN ISO 9606-1 and EN ISO 14732 (unless the contract specifies an alternative such as ASME IX or AWS D1.1). All tests are witnessed by an independent examiner/examining body. Qualifications are re-qualified or re-validated by ISO 9606 methods A and B; method C is not used. A register of welders and their qualifications is maintained for use by works supervision when allocating tasks.
Continuity of qualification¶
Validity of a welder or operator qualification depends on the periodic confirmation required by EN ISO 9606-1 as well as the certificate expiry date. A certificate whose confirmations are not signed within the required interval is not valid, whatever its printed expiry date.
The following allocation applies so that the confirmation cycle cannot lapse unnoticed:
- The Welding Qualification Register records, for every welder, each confirmation window and its due date.
- The Welding Coordinator (internal) reviews the register monthly and notifies the RWC of any confirmation falling due within the next month.
- The RWC signs the confirmation, on evidence that the welder has worked within the qualification range, and records the signing in the welding activity log.
- A welder whose confirmation is overdue is not allocated work within that qualification range until the position is resolved by the RWC.
- Any retrospective signing of a missed confirmation window is a decision for the RWC alone, is made in writing, and states the evidence relied upon.
Current position at Rev 4: confirmation windows are outstanding across the existing welder certificates and are being resolved with the RWC. This manual is not issued as a description of settled practice until that position is cleared. [TBC]