Need help CWB?

Date 12-03-2015 16:55

Forum,

Maybe this is the correct place to be putting this. As the CWI of my shop I was told by the owner "I thought about bidding some work in Canada, I think you need to be CWB certified" I've been searching and I'm hoping someone with more experience can give me a general direction to walk in. I've noticed that there doesn't seem to be a reciprocity that goes from CWI to a Level II although there is one going the other way. So I'm assuming I'll have to test. We are talking just regular structural steel. Here are a few questions to get me started.

Does CWB have a standard for certification I can download? Similar to QC1?

It appears you have to start out as a Level 1 for at least two years. Does a level one do any good? or is it like a CAWI where you have to fully be overseen.

Does a single person become CWB certified or is it a shop wide audit?

Are there regional people who work in the US that you can contact that may be able to get you on the right track?

Thanks in advanced, it just seems I'm going in circles on their website.

By Lawrence (*****)

Date 12-03-2015 17:42

CWB certification will be for the "organization" it is entirely different from AWS D1.1 code.

Assuming structural steel you will need to go through quite a bit of preparation... It goes far beyond a welder test.

**All welding procedures must be approved by the CWB "Procedures Group" whether they are prequalified or qualified by testing.

**All PQR's and Welder Performance Qualification testing must be witnessed by a CWB Rep. There are no in-house options beyond provisional tests which only are good until the next CWB rep audit.

Rather than trying to explain in a post... Let me give you a link for Company certification to W47.1 Which is the structural steel welding certification. CSA W59 is the actual welding code for structural steel.

https://www.cwbgroup.org/services/certification-and-qualification/csa-w471-fusion-welding-steel-company-certification

After you go to the link and follow the various tracks, I think you will have some idea of the scope of CWB certification.

Once you have digested that for a bit.. Come back with your specific questions.

Good luck in your endeavor.

By msharitt (**)

Date 12-03-2015 17:54

Thanks, I'll read through that and see what I can pull from it. From most I've spoke with it's not an overnight process where you just pay your dues, test and be done with it.

By WeldinFool (**)

Date 12-04-2015 19:45

We do some structural work here at our plant in the good ol' USA that is used on come of our Canadian projects (most is done by our Canadian division). For all welding performed by us for these projects, we are required to submit a "Statement of Compliance" to the customer. It basically certifies that all work was done to the applicable US codes, and that these codes meet or exceed the requirements of the Canadian codes. Don't know if this helps you or not, especially if the work your company will be performing is to be done on Canadian soil. My company also has a division in Europe, and those guys are even worse than the Canadians when it comes to Government oversight of welding and manufacturing processes. They think of us here in the US as a bunch of free-for-all cowboys that can weld whatever we want, whenever we want, using whatever we want, and don't have to answer to anybody. I think they're actually a little bit jealous...

By msharitt (**)

Date 12-04-2015 20:03

Thanks, I'm not sure that's going to be an options, although that would be nice. I've contacted their US Rep and he's been pretty helpful, they seem very willing to talk with a good turn around time on responses. As far as a personal basis it'll be a smooth transition for myself, Already being a CWI does hold merit with them. That makes that part easy.

The other main part is shop wise, an audit completed by them. They have to review WPS and such and then their rep has to witness all the test. It seems like a fairly smooth process the more I read into it, It'll just take time. From what I've heard from others, if you're already a D1.1 shop and that's what you do on a daily basis then it's just extra paperwork. I did speak with someone who said they went from nothing to CWB and that was a struggle. I think we'll make the transition smoothly. Just takes time and money.

By BMS Date 01-21-2016 20:16

One of the hardest things you might have is finding a CWB approved welding engineer. You and others will need to qualify as welding supervisors. Those two items are the biggest first to dos you will have.