Spec Quick Reference

Which documents each code actually produces.

Four codes cover most of what a welding contractor builds, and each one causes a specific set of records to exist. Knowing which document proves what — and which code a given record answers to — is most of document control.

This is a map of those records. It is not an engineering reference and it is not a substitute for the code.

What this page is, and is not

These are our summaries of which documents each code generates, written from working with the paperwork. There is no code text here: no acceptance criteria, no essential variable lists, no thresholds, no percentages.

That is deliberate. These standards are copyrighted and sold by ASME, API, and AWS, and more importantly, a number read off a website is not a number you can build to. Requirements change between editions, and your contract names one specific edition. Work from that document.

Use this to understand what belongs in your files and why. Use the code for anything you have to certify.

The four codes

Which one governs your job is set by your contract and the client specification — not by what you usually work to.

ASME B31.3

ASME · Process Piping

Process piping inside plants, refineries, and chemical facilities. It sets how piping is designed, fabricated, examined, and tested — and defers welding qualification to Section IX.

Records it causes to exist

Welding proceduresvia Sec IX Welder qualificationsvia Sec IX Material test reports Examination records Examiner qualifications Pressure test records Heat treatment recordswhere required

What a reviewer checks

That the fluid service category assigned to each system is stated, since the examination and testing expectations follow from it
That examination coverage matches whatever the applicable category and the client specification call for
That every pressure test has its procedure, its gauge calibrations, and its recorded result

Where people get caughtAssuming one fluid service category applies to the whole job. A single line reclassified partway through design changes what that line's records have to show, and the package still reflects the original assumption.

API 1104

API · Welding of Pipelines and Related Facilities

Cross-country pipelines and related facilities. Unlike B31.3, it carries its own welding and welder qualification rules rather than deferring to Section IX — which is the single most common source of confusion for contractors who move between plant and pipeline work.

Records it causes to exist

Qualified welding procedureAPI 1104 rules Welder qualification tests Destructive test results NDE procedures and reports Radiographer certifications Repair procedures and records

What a reviewer checks

That procedures were qualified under this code, not carried across from a Section IX qualification
That each welder's qualification covers the pipe diameter, wall thickness, and position actually welded
That every repair has both its authorisation and its re-examination

Where people get caughtA welder qualified under Section IX being put on pipeline work, or vice versa. The paperwork looks complete and thorough right up until someone asks which code it was qualified to.

ASME Section IX

ASME BPVC · Welding, Brazing, and Fusing Qualifications

Not a construction code. It is the qualification code that other codes reference — B31.3 among them. It defines how a welding procedure gets qualified and how a welder gets qualified against it.

Records it causes to exist

PQRprocedure qualification record WPSwelding procedure specification WPQwelder performance qualification Continuity records

The relationship, in one line

A PQR records a test weld that was actually made and tested. It is evidence.
A WPS is the instruction given to the welder. Each one must be supported by a PQR.
A WPQ qualifies a person against a WPS, and stays valid only while their continuity holds.

Where people get caughtTreating a WPS as self-sufficient. A WPS with no supporting PQR in the package is not a qualified procedure, however professional the document looks — and a welder's WPQ is only as good as the continuity record behind it on the day they welded.

AWS D1.1

AWS · Structural Welding Code — Steel

Structural steel: supports, racks, skids, platforms. Frequently in scope on the same job as the piping, under a different code, reviewed by a different inspector.

Records it causes to exist

WPSprequalified or qualified PQRwhere not prequalified Welder qualification records Inspection records Inspector qualifications NDE reports

What a reviewer checks

Whether each procedure is claimed as prequalified or qualified by test — and, if prequalified, that it genuinely sits within the conditions that allow it
That welder qualifications cover the joint configurations and positions actually welded
That inspection records identify who inspected and against what

Where people get caughtClaiming prequalified status for a procedure that has drifted outside the conditions prequalification depends on. Nothing on the WPS itself announces this; it only surfaces when someone compares the document to the joint.

How they fit together

Most documentation arguments are actually confusion about which code owns which record.

Three relationships worth being clear on

Section IX is referenced, not applied directly. You do not build to Section IX. You build to B31.3 (or another code that references it) and use Section IX to qualify the welding. A package that cites Section IX as the governing construction code has confused the two.

API 1104 stands alone for qualification. It does not defer to Section IX. Procedures and welders qualified under one are not automatically acceptable under the other, and this catches out contractors whose work spans plant and pipeline.

The client specification usually sits on top of all of them. Owner specs routinely require more than the code — more examination, more documentation, tighter records. When the spec and the code differ, the package has to satisfy whichever is more demanding, and it is the spec that gets forgotten.

Editions matter more than people expect. Your contract names a specific edition of each code. A requirement can change between editions, and a package assembled against the wrong one can be complete, careful, and still wrong. Check which edition your contract names before you check anything else.

Knowing which document proves what is the easy half.

The hard half is keeping them consistent across a seven-week job — every weld tied to a qualified welder who was still current that day, every heat number resolving to a certificate, every examination performed by someone whose certification had not lapsed.

Hot Pass holds those records in one place and flags what has expired, what is still open, and what is missing its paperwork — while the gaps are still cheap to fix.

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