QA Steel Inspection Services for Owners

QA Steel Inspection Services for Owners

Third-party quality assurance observation of steel fabrication centers on welding inspection, as well as inspection of bolting and painting of structural steel. Inspectors conduct visual inspections of material for conformance with the approved specifications, plans and codes, as well as verification of Material Test Reports (MTR) for materials used. Materials and components are observed at key points along the manufacturing process in both steel mills and steel fabrication shops. KTA’s certified welding inspectors also witness welder and welding procedure qualification tests as applicable to the scope of the project. KTA provides these services on behalf of the Owner in order to provide a greater degree of confidence that the workmanship and quality control (QC) efforts of the Contractor conform to industry standards and contract documents. KTA’s approach does not duplicate contractor QC functions. It provides an audit function documenting the contractor’s control of the key stages of the fabrication process. This is accomplished through visual observations, monitoring of processes, and verifying QC findings. This audit function may also include the review of the contractor’s Quality Control Plan, project specific QC documents, QC inspection personnel qualifications and certifications, review of welding procedure specifications (WPS) and procedure qualification records (PQR) and review of fabrication and assembly procedures.

Steel fabrication inspection services also routinely include witnessing non-destructive testing (NDT) including Magnetic Particle Testing (MT), Ultrasonic Testing (UT) and Radiographic Testing (RT). NDT, also known as NDE (Non-Destructive Examination) is used to “look inside” materials to detect discontinuities and defects that may not be seen by visual inspection alone. The examinations are performed without damaging the materials, so that the tested materials are not wasted and may be put into service. NDT helps determine if the materials are acceptable for use as-is, contain defects that can be repaired, or must be rejected. Inspections take place in steel mills and fabrication shops throughout the United States and on-site in the field and include all varieties of structures including bridges, stadiums, buildings, towers, poles, and sign structures.

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