Page 135 - Quick Guide to Welding and Weld Inspection by S.E. Hughes, Clifford Matthews

Codes, Standards and Documentation

of the manufacturer or contractor but some standards
require the test to be witnessed by an independent third
party examiner. One of the duties of a welding inspector is to
oversee a welder qualification test being carried out and
ensure that it is being done in compliance with the
requirements of the relevant code or specification.
A common question asked is whether a welder who welds a
test coupon to qualify a new welding procedure is
automatically qualified to weld that procedure (even though
the coupon has in effect been welded using an unqualified
procedure). If not, it means that the welder would have to
weld to the procedure once it was qualified to gain the
qualification. The answer is very simple; it depends on what
the standard says. European standards will normally permit
this but others may not.
It is important to be aware of the differences between
standards in how welders are qualified. The two main
standards are ASME IX and BSEN 287. Many fabricators
require their welders to be qualified to both if they are
required to comply with the requirements of ASME and the
requirements of European directives such as the Pressure
Equipment Directive (PED). The ideal situation would be to
qualify welders to both standards on the same form using the
same test coupon, but unfortunately this is not possible
because the qualified thickness ranges, pipe diameters and the
non-destructive testing and destructive testing requirements
are different. It is therefore better to qualify the welder
separately to each standard and apply the relevant qualifica-
tion in production.
Common welder qualification standards are:
. ASME IX: Welding and Brazing Qualifications
Article III contains welder qualification requirements for
welding done in accordance with ASME or API require-
ments. Requirements may also be referenced within other
standards or specifications.
. EN 287-1:2004: Approval Testing of Welders – Fusion

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