Certification Scheme Flies

07 May 2010

“We are delighted with both the quantum and quality of companies that have been audited and accredited and look forward to doing the same for many more fabricators, both small and large, in the future,” says John McLeish of SAIW Certification (SCERT).

Another is Steinmuller Africa, which was presented with its ISO 3834 Part 2 certificate and flag by Jim Guild, executive director of SAIW, on October 1, 2009.

The presentation took place at the new Steinmuller Africa boiler fabrication facility in Pretoria West. Currently, this factory is manufacturing boiler components for the Eskom Medupi Power Station in Limpopo using state-of-the-art automatic welding equipment.

Gerrit Buitenbos, Steinmuller quality assurance manager, called ISO 3834 a very practical standard. “It gets down to the nitty-gritty of welding on the shop floor starting from the issuing of welding consumables; the control of welders and welding qualifications through to the implementation of welding procedures.

“ISO 3834 is more than just a certificate. It’s proof that we are doing things correctly on the shop floor.”

Steinmuller Africa is the twelfth fabricator to be awarded ISO 3834 Part 2 certification. A sister company, Steinmuller Engineering Services, has also indicated interest in having their permanent sites at other Eskom power stations and at ArcelorMittal certified to ISO 3834 Part 2.

Yet another is fabricator Hydra-Arc, which is based within the Sasol Secunda complex. It has also been certified to ISO 3834 Part 2 for its Secunda workshops and a certificate and flag presentation will take place in the next few weeks.

Another high-profile company recently accredited is Group Five Oil and Gas, a division of Group Five Energy and the first site-based company to be certified to ISO 3834.

Structural steel fabricators
Recently, there has also been considerable interest in the ISO 3834 Welding Fabricator Certification Scheme from structural steel fabricators. The result is that two fabricators, Tass Engineering and August General Servicing, have both been assessed by SCERT’s Authorised National Body for Company Certification (ANBCC) team and provisionally certified to ISO 3834 Part 3 subject to the clearance of the audit findings.

Two more structural fabricators are currently undergoing assessment.

Nineteen other companies in the pressure vessel and structural steel fabrication industry have expressed interest in ISO 3834 certification and are all at some stage in the certification process, says John McLeish.