Protecting Public Safety

Unfortunately, accidents happen that result in the loss of life, permanent disfigurement, or loss of quality of life to both fabricators and the public at large. Chapter 17 discusses the laws, regulations, and codes that were written after serious injuries and fatalities occurred. That chapter discusses how codes are typically written by groups of experts from industry, government, and research institutions. Due to the expertise contained within the welding codes, many state and federal lawmakers have mandated the use of welding codes to ensure a minimum level of workmanship in fabrications that could kill or injure the public.

As part of each welding code, also called code, inspection requirements are included to provide inspectors the means to determine if the quality requirements have been met to help prevent in-service fabrication failures.

Enhancing Fabrication Quality

Welding codes provide the minimum standards for fabrications. Many companies will fabricate to higher standards for increased durability and quality to meet customer expectations. For instance, truck companies may test their trucks in scenarios where the fabricated parts are exercised to simulate years or even decades of use. When failures occur during testing, manufacturers may improve the design to avoid costly warranty claims or to advertise an expected lifetime that is longer than their competitors’.

Companies can also identify failures when customer return a product, or with today’s social media, when customers post about failures online. Companies can then request the failed product for inspection and interview the customer to determine what in-service conditions the part encountered. If inspection of the product reveals that a particular weld is repeatedly failing, for example, then the company may tighten inspection criteria on that weld if it is found that fabrications with undersized welds were sent to customers. Inspection serves as a great way to quantitatively measure and determine causes of failure.

Welding Steps to Enable Successful Inspection

It is important for welders and fabricators to know how the inspection will be carried out and if the inspection requires a certain level of workmanship.

The inspection method will usually be placed in the tail of the welding symbol on the blueprint. If you are not familiar with the abbreviations in the tail of a welding symbol on a print you are working with, please ask a coworker or your mentor about the symbol and any associated requirements. Take careful notes in a small fabricator’s notebook so you don’t forget what others tell you and to avoid asking the same questions every few months.