Tue, 12 May, 2020
The main international codes and standard committees for welding are discussing measures to address the COVID-19 emergency. In particular, temporary extensions to welder and welding operators’ qualifications have been issued or will be published shortly.
Marcello Consonni, consultant welding engineer and member of various national and international committees, has prepared a summary of the latest developments.
This will be updated with more information as the discussion progresses.
ASME
ASME has published Code Case 2996, which permits an extension of three months. Details and restrictions are provided in the Code Case.
The Code Case is available for download from the ASME Section IX Committee webpage (click on ‘*COVID NOTICE*…’ at the bottom left-hand side): https://cstools.asme.org/csconnect/CommitteePages.cfm?Committee=N20120000
ISO
The ISO subcommittee that covers ISO 9606 and ISO 14732 (ISO/TC44/SC11) has issued a Position Statement that addresses the extension of the validity of welder and welding operator certificates, provide certain conditions are met. The statement is available via the link below.
Standard users are reminded that this statement does not have the status of a standard and its implementation is purely voluntary. Further, it does not negate the requirements of certification bodies. The aim is to help industry where needed during the COVID-19 situation
https://committee.iso.org/sites/tc44/home/news/content-left-area/news-and-updates/isotc-44sc-11-position-statement.html
AWS
AWS are discussing a six-month extension. However, this has not been issued yet. See here for more information: https://s3.amazonaws.com/mkt-www.aws.org/file/COVID-19-AWS-Standards-Announcement-v3-20200413.pdf