Page 125 - Quick Guide to Welding and Weld Inspection by S.E. Hughes, Clifford Matthews

Codes, Standards and Documentation

of the USA and pressure vessels manufactured in accordance
with Section VIII of the BPV code must comply with all
aspects of the code before they can have the ASME stamp
applied to them.
Conversely, compliance with the European unfired pres-
sure vessel standard BS EN 13445 is not a legal requirement
in the UK (unless it is a contractual requirement) but is the
British equivalent to Section VIII of the BPV code (and is
therefore realistically also a code).
The term code of practice (or code) is often used by ASME
and API, or by individual companies or organisations for
their own applications, but the term is not normally used by
the British and European standards organisations. The term
application standard is often used to describe a construction
standard in the UK. The best way to look at this is to accept
that the construction document may be called a code, an
application standard, recommended practice or specification
depending upon its country of origin and/or the organisation
that released it and the inspector’s job is to ensure the
required compliance with it.
When all is said and done, a standard or code is a
document of best practice that contains the lessons learned
over time about the best method of manufacturing a product
to meet an acceptable level of quality. Generally the higher
the level of quality required then the more stringent the code/
standard will be in terms of:
. design;
. the manufacturing method;
. acceptable materials;
. workmanship;
. testing requirements;
. acceptable imperfection levels.
Be aware that codes generally do not contain all the relevant
data required for the design, manufacture, testing and
inspection but will reference other standards and documents

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