specialist for building materials. He is an ASNT NDT Level III magnetic particle, dye penetrant, ultrasonic, and visual inspection; and an ICC Structural Steel Bolting Special Inspector, Steel Welding Special Inspector, Masonry Special Inspector, Prestress Concrete Special Inspector, and Master of Special Inspection. He is a member of the AWS Subcommittee on Certification of Structural Inspectors. Beware of Unscrupulous Companies and Individuals Eugene Hornberger: A few years ago, I received a phone call from a steel erector contractor who said he had some Welder Performance Qualification records that had my signature on them, and he felt they were not right. I asked him to send me copies of them. I received copies of 20 welder performance records. He was correct in that they were not right; they had been altered. My signature was in the same place on each document. My SCWI stamp was in the same place on each 24 Inspection Trends / October 2011 document. The original welder’s name was whited out and another name typed in. A typeface different than the one I use had been used to type in the new welders’ names. As I investigated what had happened, I found out the correct story. The steel erector contractor (prime) did not have enough help to erect the steel for a school so he hired a subcontractor (sub) to do the job for him. The prime contractor told the subcontractor that he had to supply welder certification papers for his welders. The subcontractor finished the job but never supplied the welder certification papers. The prime said, “No papers, no money.” The prime and sub battled through lawyers until the sub produced the bogus paperwork that was later sent to me. I tried to no avail to dispute the altered documents. No one else disputed the alterations: Not the Engineer of Record, no CWI, nor the prime contractor. No one. While I don’t know how to prevent a situation such as this from happening, I do know we all need to be on guard for unscrupulous companies and individuals. If anyone involved in an unethical practice is an AWS SCWI or a CWI, a complaint can be brought against them. The procedure for that is outlined in AWS QC9-98, Administrative Procedures for Alleged Violations of AWS Certification Programs, which can be downloaded for free from the AWS Web site, www.aws.org. Eugene Hornberger is the owner of Eugene G. Hornberger, Consultant, LLC, for which he tests welders and prepares Welding Procedure Specifications and Welding Procedure Qualifications for companies. He is a Life Member of the American Welding Society, and has served as chair of the Education Committee and on the Board of Directors of the American Welding Society. MARY RUTH JOHNSEN (mjohnsen@aws.org) is Editor of Inspection Trends. For info go to www.aws.org/ad-index For info go to www.aws.org/ad-index
Inspection Trends - October 2011 - Fall
To see the actual publication please follow the link above