31.5 Third-Party Welding Inspection
When third-party welding inspection is specified, welding inspection shall be performed by firms
certified to CSA Standard W178.1, except that visual inspection may be performed by persons
certified to Level 2 or 3 of CSA Standard W178.2.
The design engineers responsible for preparing the construction documents must be familiar with all
the relevant clauses in the structural steel design and welding specifications. The fabricator’s
engineers responsible for welding design and procedures must also be familiar with both the applicable
welding and structural steel specifications to produce a satisfactory structure.
Codes and standards set the level of acceptable quality so that the owner knows what quality product
to expect and the engineers know what specifications govern the design, fabrication and erection. It is
the common technical (and legal) language among owners, contractors, architects and engineers. It
forms an important part of all engineering contractual documents.
Some of the major codes or specifications pertaining to welding fabrication will be mentioned with brief
outlines in the following paragraphs.
2.2 Purpose of Standards
In this time of rapid development of new technologies, standards can be said to fulfill the all-important
task of harnessing these developments into product performance or service-oriented regulatory
constraints, setting levels of acceptable quality while taking a responsible stand on the protection of
public interest.
The ultimate objective of standardization is to build confidence in the user (public), and in so doing,
stimulate production and commercial activity and in turn greatly enhance the economic well being of
the country.
In more specific terms, the functions of standards is:
- to ensure public safety
- to educate – by setting general rules for guidance of producers and consumers
- to simplify – by reducing the range of variations in sizes, processes and hence the
stock and related record-keeping services
- to conserve – by saving time and materials through ready and official acceptance of
developments permitting the use of more advanced design methods and the attainment of
higher production efficiencies
- to certify – by serving as hallmarks of quality and value