Depends on the politics where your working. I don't think a third party can make you do anything. They just observe and report. The customer or the welders employer could do such a thing. In the end it's all politics, in some situations he who puffs his chest the biggest wins.
Why do you ask do you have a bad welder on your hands who needs to go?
By cwi2009 
Date 06-21-2011 05:08
Edited 06-21-2011 05:18
I do have a terrible welder here. He bull-crapped his way to top wage at his interview. He claims he is a top pressure vessel welder/fabricator but struggles to show off his skills. Also mentions that he is the best welder in this outfit. It's comical. He even threaten me when I marked his work up.
I tried pulling his stamp and certs but it's against company policy. Took it to my Supervisor but he claims he is just having bad days and rushing his work. Guess he has been having bad days for the last 8 months.
The CWI should bring up his concerns about the welder to the welders supervisor. You can't go wrong by following the chain of command.
I have done that but it went nowhere.
continue to mark up his unacceptable welds and hopefully the company
will realize how much the rework is costing them.
Read section 4.32 AWS D1.1 the inspector has the right to retest a welder
if his ab ilities are in doubt
Keep your head up Dan....time will weed him out. Re-work and wasted man-hours will get him eventually. I don't know many who pay their help good wages, that will put up with someone who is costing them every day that they show up to work.
Thanks, John. It's starting to put a toll on the other welder's who put out quality work, day in day out, for half of what he is getting paid.
A CWI, as a CWI has no such authority AT ALL. The certification of CWI is meaningless as pertains to authority. Authority is granted by the contractual or programmatical authority, i.e. owner, customer, code, fabricators manual. If a CWI has that authority they are an individual with the authority vested in them who just happens to be a CWI.
And I do not mean this as a critique of the OP (who has a very sincere and serious concern over quality and weld viability), or to necessarily hijack the thread, but how is it there seems to be so many CWI's that don't know this. Just exactly what is being taught these days in these CWI seminars?
cwi2009 - JS55
JS55 has it 100% correct here! If you are a company QC inspector, CWI or not, tell your boss and recommend that this welder be disqualified and required to re-test. Do not get fired because of how you interpret the Code. Do legitimate inspections and document the actual results and present it up the chain of command. It sounds like the boss doesn't care anyway. So just go with it, but do not sign off any non-conforming work. Keep in mind that YOU are bound by the Code of Ethics, not the company.
Joe Kane
Joe makes an excellent point. Even though the authority is vested as stated you do still have the Code of Ethics to comply with. Follow Joe's instructions keep viable records and carry on. Do not throw yourself under the bus but operate with integrity. You may find you have geater influence than you think. It just may take time.
Dan,
I take it your are the CWI for the company that you work for. Do you have a company job description?
Fortunately the company I work for listed all my responsibilities and extent of my authority when I first hired on as their Quality Assurance Manager. All welders applying for jobs here perform a welding test but only after I have verified their previous job experience. And current welders are retested when I feel their ability to make sound welds is questionable.
As a presure vessel fabrication facility, the controls and mechanisms for insuring quality are in place as required by ASME stamp certifications. We do also produce pneumatic wood handling cyclones, conveyors, feeders, airlocks, etc but these also are quality controlled.
It all starts with management and their philosophy on quality.
The advice given here about continuing to inspect, mark up unacceptable welds and document these is very good.
Good luck to ya and CYA,
QCRobert
Several of the guys have given very good advice. There are a couple more things I would add:
Make an appointment with YOUR supervisor, don't go over his head, then later with the owner or upper management. Ask questions about their philosophy on quality and how they see you fitting into that scheme of things. Get a copy of the company QC manual first and go over it thoroughly. Don't quote from it, but ask how it fits into their overall plan for company production, qc, reputation, and your responsibility.
Remember too, sometimes a particular job has slight variations on a company's policies. They may be more stringent or more relaxed. But the company policy should dictate the largest percentage of how things are handled.
Communication is a key component to any job. QC is even more so. Inspectors are usually thrown into the forbidden zone where they are only to satisfy the paper requirements but everyone ignores them. It is important to earn the respect of the welders, floor supervisors, management, and customers. Not usually to the level of being friends or buddies with ANY of them. Just respected for your experience and expertise and the way you share knowledge without slowing down production.
Keep your head up. Do your job with integrity, pride, and professionalism.
Have a Great Day, Brent
Brent,
Thanks for the response. The welder's supervisor is covering his own ass because I'm starting believe he is realizing he made a mistake on this hire and won't admit it. The owner's "right-hand man" saw some of his welds yesterday. The welder was supposed to FCAW and not GTAW on this particular part. The welder's supervisor argued it was FCAW but the "right-hand man" was standing there witnessing him using GTAW. That's how bad the weld looked and how much of a welding background this supervisor has. The "right-hand man" became pissed off and found out what the company is paying him.
It should be fun today.
I will continue to do my job with integrity, pride, and professionalism.
Be careful when you start taking your quality concerns up the chain of command. There's a good possibility that office politics are in play and you could bruise ego's. The advice given here is excellent, tread carefully. I was blindsided once by office politics because I refused to approve a repair to a 80' knuckle crane.
