Checking fabricated components and structures
Overview
This standard identifies the competences you need to carry out the dimensional and visual checks of fabricated components and structures, in accordance with approved procedures.
You will be required to obtain the necessary job instructions and all relevant documentation, and to obtain the tools and equipment required. This will involve selecting the appropriate equipment, based on the features to be checked and the accuracy to be measured. You must also ensure that the equipment to be used is within current test/calibration dates.
In carrying out the inspection activities, you will be expected to check the components for visual defects, and dimensional and geometrical accuracy, and this may be required to be undertaken at various stages of manufacture, such as random sampling of fabricated components during production, final inspection of completed components and checking assemblies and sub-assemblies. Components to be inspected will include items such as flat sheet components, pressings, fabricated frames, tanks, pipe sections, modular components, fabricated tubular components and fabricated structures.
Your responsibilities will require you to comply with organisational policy and procedures for checking the fabricated components or structures, and to report any problems with these activities that you cannot personally resolve, or that are outside your permitted authority, to the relevant people. You will be expected to ensure that all tools and equipment used to check the fabrications are returned to the correct location on completion of the activities. You will be expected to work to instructions, either alone or in conjunction with others, taking personal responsibility for your own actions and for the quality and accuracy of the work that you carry out.
Your underpinning knowledge will be sufficient to provide a sound basis for your work, and will provide an informed approach to applying appropriate inspection techniques and procedures to fabricated components and structures. You will understand how to use the tools and equipment required for checking the fabrications, in adequate depth to provide a sound basis for carrying out the inspection activities and for identifying where features of the fabrications do not meet the required specification tolerances.
You will understand the safety precautions required when working with fabricated components, and the safeguards necessary for undertaking the checking activities safely and correctly. You will be required to demonstrate safe working practices and procedures throughout, and will understand the responsibilities you owe to yourself and others in the workplace.
Performance criteria
You must be able to:
P1 work safely at all times, complying with health and safety and other relevant regulations, directives and guidelines
P2 follow the correct specification for the product or equipment being inspected
P3 use the correct tools, instruments and equipment to carry out the inspection
P4 identify and confirm the inspection checks to be made and acceptance criteria to be used
P5 carry out all required inspections as specified
P6 identify any defects or variations from the specification
P7 complete and store all relevant documentation in accordance with organisational requirements
P8 deal with problems within your control and report those that cannot be solved
Knowledge and Understanding
You need to know and understand:
K1 how to work safely at all times, complying with health and safety and other relevant regulations, directives and guidelines
K2 the importance of wearing the appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE), and of keeping the work area clean and tidy
K3 how and where to obtain the required job instructions, drawings and quality control/inspection documentation
K4 how to extract information from fabrication drawings and related specifications in relation to work undertaken
K5 how to interpret first and third angle drawings, imperial and metric systems of measurement, workpiece reference points and system of tolerancing
K6 the general principles of quality assurance systems and procedures
K7 the preparations to be undertaken on the fabrication before it is inspected
K8 the visual and dimensional inspection methods and techniques that are used for fabricated components/structures
K9 the need to select and use set datum faces, and the effects of taking readings from different datums
K10 the equipment that is used to carry out the various inspection checks
K11 the importance of ensuring that tools and equipment are set up correctly, and are in a safe and useable condition
K12 the need to check that the equipment is approved for the inspection activities undertaken
K13 the techniques used to check for alignments, verticality and roundness/ovality
K14 the need to take account of allowances for weld gaps and weld shrinkage, in order to attain overall global tolerances
K15 the need to carry out the checks and to record the results in the appropriate documentation
K16 the typical defects and variations that can be found on the fabrications, and how to identify them
K17 the procedure to be followed when inspected products are out of specification
K18 the importance of completing inspection documentation
K19 what needs to be recorded, and where records are kept
K20 the extent of your own responsibility and to whom you should report if you have problems that you cannot resolve
Scope/range
Scope Performance
- Carry out all of the following during the checking process:
- obtain all the necessary information to carry out the checking activities (such as job instructions and quality control/inspection documentation)
- obtain and check the condition and calibration dates of tools, measuring instruments and equipment to be used
- observe all the required safety procedures for the work area/activity
- carry out the checking activities, using the specified techniques and procedures
- use the correct and appropriate tools and equipment at all times
- identify and record out-of-specification features, in the appropriate format
- ensure that any out-of-specification products are clearly labelled/identified
- resolve any issues as they occur, within your level of responsibility
- leave the work area in a safe and tidy condition on completion of the activities
- Carry out one of the following inspection procedures:
- in-process sample/patrol inspection
- one-hundred-percent final inspection of fabricated
- random/selective sampling of finished fabrications components
- statistical quality control
- Carry out the inspection of one of the following types of fabrication:
- fabricated frames
- pipe sections
- transformers
- structures
- cylindrical components
- reduction pieces
- square/rectangular tanks
- conical components
- segmented bends
- curved/profiled structures
- tubular structures
- modular components
- trunking/ducting systems
- panels
- other specific fabrication
- Carry out six of the following checks:
- dimensional accuracy
- visual appearance
- orientation
- squareness
- straightness
- security of joints
- angle
- position/location
- weld size and profile
- alignment
- freedom from distortion/damage
- computation of best fit centres
- circularity or ovality
- completeness
- prediction of erection positions
- flatness
- development of cut lines
- practical allowances for expansion and contraction
- computation of allowances for weld gap tolerances and weld shrinkage for attainment of global tolerances
- Use four of the following types of inspection equipment:
- rules and tapes
- protractors
- rafter squares
- squares
- plumb lines
- templates and jigs
- spirit levels
- callipers
- theodolites
- dividers
- Vernier instruments
- laser equipment
- gauges
- torque instruments
- Complete the inspection documentation, to include one from the following, and pass it to the appropriate people:
- inspection report
- job card
- customer specific documentation