In my personal experience, it depends on the confidence that the other company deserves from your part. If the other company is serious, respected and owner of a great reputation, then I don't see any reason for which the welder can not be allowed to weld within your company.

Let's give an example. ASME B31.3 applies to oil refinery and chemical plant piping. If the company that qualified the welder is Exxon, Shell, DuPont or Dow Chemical, it's not me who's going to doubt about their competence in qualifying him.

Here in Brazil, Petrobras (the state owned oil company) is, technically speaking, the most respected firm in the country. Nobody would even imagine to refuse a welder qualification issued by Petrobras. But it's not only Petrobras. A highly reputed contractor or boilermaking firm also will have their certifications widely accepted.

You may want to consider another thing. ASME B31.3 applies to oil refineries and chemical plant piping and may be that you want to weld high pressure steam piping (ASME B31.1) or oil storage tanks (API 650). Again, in my personal opinion, it depends on the confidence that you may have not only in the previuos company but also in the welder himself. He might have been qualified under ASME B31.3 for a particular job, but he's welded steam piping or storage tanks for many years, so he's well accostumed to them

I've done like that during my whole professional life and have nothing to be sorry about.

Giovanni S. Crisi
Sao Paulo - Brazil

Dlmann,

If the contractors QA program stipulates that they will qualify all new welders then you are on track.

However, the purpose of 328.2.3 is to allow one employer to accept welder performance qualification made for another employer provided:
1. The qualification in question is limited to piping.
2. Support documentation is available.
3. The same (or equivalent) procedure is used.
4. The owner’s inspector approves of the contractors acceptance of the performance qualification. See 340 for responsibilities of the owner’s inspectors.

This is common in say refinery work where several contractors may draw welders from the same pool of welders for work throughout the year. It is also common for several different owners (oil companies) to have qualification tests that are acceptable to all. A welder would only have to qualify once for a particular procedure. Welders can go from contractor to contractor and/or owner to owner without retesting every time.

I do not have B31.3 with me but as I recall it requires welders to be certified per Section IX, and if this is the case Section IX requires the contractor to "witness" the testing of the welder (QW 300.2). We use the Common Arc program for boilermakers which allows multiple contractors to witness welder qualification simultaneously. If not we usually require re-certification.

Thanks to all for the info. This issue came to a close when the contractor requalified the welder. When this contractor submitted their documention to the contracting officer, all the welder certs and WPS were reviewed and approved. This welder only started to weld out of necessity when one of the approved welders drug-up. Then it was like playing catch-up.