If you are dealing with a petrochemical or refining business the legal requirement for use of a "code" would fall to the owner user. However, if the place dels with pipelines then this falls under B31.4 and B31.8 which does reference ASME Section IX, API 1104 and B31.3. This makes their use manditory. Plants would fall under local jurisdiction. State departments of environmental quality, State water departments or that sort of thing. Under B31.3, the fabricator is required to do the QC. This should not be a matter of discussion. If the owner specifies the work will need to conform to B31.3, then you gotta do the inspections.
However, if the owner allows you to do the work without any QC or NDT, accepts the work nd give you an waiver in writing, you are off the hook. I bet it will be the last part that they balk at. I cannot believe in todays society company would be this short sighted. Either that or they must have some really good lawyers. If a fatality occurs, OSHA will be on them like white on rice and somebody will own them.
Really, until something happens, you can complain all you want. They can put 5 RBI engineers on the stand who will say the way they ran the place meet the Industry Acceptable Practice.
BABRT's