Obtaining and issuing a welder qualification certificate

We invite construction organizations and housing and communal services enterprises to cooperate. Our training center conducts professional training courses, advanced training to a higher level, and annual recertification with the issuance of a welder’s certificate. Full-time and distance learning programs are available in manual arc, gas, automatic and semi-automatic welding. Favorable conditions and discounts for organizations that form and send groups to us annually. We work with representatives of labor protection services. The training program for welders includes a fire-technical minimum!

What it is?

This mandatory document is issued to the employee after certification; it lists the types of work for which the specialist is granted permission .
Without it, the administration of the enterprise cannot really allow the electric welder to work. The certificate is issued by the territorial division of NASK after the employee has passed the qualification commission, tested welding theory and practice. The welder's certificate indicates the worker's full name, year of birth, and a photograph is pasted in. The level of the specialist is indicated, and the specializations in which the welder has the right to work are listed. Groups of materials for the connection of which a specialist has received permission are also given.

The certificate of the NAKS specialist indicates the commission protocol number and the expiration date of the document. The certificate must be certified by the head of the center and his seal.

Training

Based on the certification results, reflected in the knowledge test protocol, students, in addition to a welder’s certificate, are given a certificate of advanced training for the required category. The certificate is issued on a special form, protected by watermarks, and is an official document of advanced training in the profession of welder.

Why is it necessary?

With the help of welding, permanent connections are created in the production of machine tools and vehicles, the construction of residential and industrial buildings and pipelines, infrastructure elements, nuclear and chemical reactors, and other technological installations in various fields.

Many of these objects pose an increased danger. The safety of using houses, machinery and infrastructure directly depends on the strength and durability of welds. In addition, the welding process itself is associated with increased danger to humans due to the use of high temperatures, high currents and accompanying ultraviolet radiation.

Therefore, the NAKS welder’s certificate is included in the list of documents required for organizing welding work in production or construction . It confirms the welder’s knowledge of theory and practical skills in a certain specialization, with certain materials, as well as knowledge of safety requirements.

The certificate is required to be presented in the following cases:

• apparatus employed;
• assignment of the next rank;
• registration of insurance compensation for an accident at work;
• inspection of production by regulatory authorities.

The certificate confirms the qualifications of a specialist in exactly the type of welding, for those materials, thickness and shape of workpieces, welding positions, type of welding equipment that he is going to use. In addition, it guarantees that the welder knows safe working techniques so as not to endanger the life and health of both his own and his colleagues.

In terms of importance, the document can be compared to a driver's license for a professional driver, or a pilot's or ship's captain's certificate. They are also issued for a specific class of vehicle and confirm their knowledge of the theory and practice of safe driving.

Welder 4 categories

Electric and gas welders of the 4th category can be persons who have a higher vocational education in the relevant specialty and at least one year of work experience.

The requirements for a welder of the 4th category are much more serious than for the same master of the 3rd category. After all, a 4th category welder works in more critical areas of industry and production, and therefore a welding master of this level must know:

• The internal structure of various electric and gas welding and cutting equipment, automatic and semi-automatic equipment, their internal mechanisms and operating modes when the current changes from alternating to direct. The welder must understand the types of distortions in welds and know how to prevent and correct them.
• A welding master of the 4th category must understand what properties the metal being welded has, and also be able to choose the right electrode for a particular grade of steel. In addition, he must know how to store and use common gas mixtures for welding such as acetylene, oxygen, hydrogen and propane with butane.

When does it lose power?

The certificate is considered invalid in the following cases:

• the expiration date indicated on the first page has expired;
• there was a break in work for more than 6 months;
• the welder was suspended from work due to systematic violation of technological requirements and defects.

Before the expiration date, you should wait for documents to be sent to an accredited certification center. At a meeting of the certification commission, documents are reviewed and a decision is made:

• extend without limitation;
• extend, limiting the scope;
• do not renew.

Re-certification is carried out by a specialist on a general basis.

How to get a?

How to obtain a NAKS certificate? First of all, you need to prepare a package of documents. This is the most labor-intensive stage.

Required:

• certificate confirming welding experience;
• conclusion of the medical commission about the absence of health restrictions, chronic and occupational diseases;
• confirmation of the qualification category in the specialty;
• a diploma from a vocational educational institution that trained a welder in a working specialty;
• certificates and diplomas of professional retraining courses for assignment of the next rank (if available);
• two color photographs 3*4 cm.

A complete list of documents required to pass certification for the chosen specialization and qualification level can be obtained from an organization certified by NAKS as a certification center. The list of such organizations is published on the NAKS portal and is constantly updated .

The next stage: submitting an application and a set of documents to an accredited organization. After checking the completeness and authenticity, the verification date is determined.

On this day, the welder appears before a commission that checks his level of knowledge of the theory and practice of creating welded joints. For each type of welding, it is required to obtain a separate certificate, since both the amount of theoretical knowledge and technological working methods for, say, resistance welding and argon arc welding differ significantly.

Four qualification levels are established:

1. welder;
2. master welder;
3. welding technologist;
4. welding engineer.

At the first stage of certification, the worker’s practical skills are tested; in the training workshop, he must weld several seams. If the quality of the connections satisfies the commission members, then they move on to the theoretical part of the certification. The specialist answers approximately twenty questions, using computer tests or in an interview mode.

There are the following types of certification:

• primary , it is passed by employees who do not have permission to work in their chosen specialization, they pass theory and practice;
• additional , for workers who have passed the primary and wish to obtain additional permits, as well as all those who have a six-month or more break in work;
• periodic , for renewal of the certificate, also consists of a practical and theoretical part;
• extraordinary , taken after removal from work for poor quality and non-compliance with technology, in terms of the scope of what should be checked, it corresponds to the primary one.

If both practice and theory are passed successfully, a certificate is issued. This takes up to two weeks. After this, the specialist receives the document and is entered into the general register of welders NAKS.

Sample

What certificate is issued by the certification center to a welder after periodic certification?
The form is printed in a NAKS-accredited printing house. Outwardly, it looks like a pass, has a cardboard base and a vinyl coating. Its size is 80*115 mm.

Inside there are 6 pages for entering information about the welder and the approvals he received. Next to the photo there is a QR code containing encrypted information about the entry in the NAKS Register of Welders. Filling out the form columns is carried out only by personnel of an accredited organization .

What is better, buy or register in accordance with HSE

Carrying out certification means that the employee will be removed from the production process for at least 60 hours. In fact, this can take anywhere from a few days to two weeks. Large enterprises can afford to organize NAKS training on site , with teachers visiting, while small ones have to send welders to training centers.

The Internet is full of offers for assistance in obtaining welder certification certificates. The organizations look more or less reputable and offer to issue the document according to an expedited scheme. Some go so far as to offer to do this even without the presence of a welder.

Sometimes managers of small businesses who want to save time and money fall for the bait of such would-be helpers. All pieces of paper issued by such figures last until the first inspection by regulatory authorities . The inspector just needs to scan the QR code and send a request using the code or certificate number to the Agency’s portal - and the fraud is instantly revealed.

And immediately the trouble begins:

• falsification of documents is a criminal offense ranging from a large fine to imprisonment;
• supervisory authorities stop production;
• customers have the full right to make claims regarding product quality.

For a small enterprise, and it is they who most often fall for the bait of scammers, such consequences most often lead to ruin and closure.

These are the consequences for management, and the employee and his family lose the right to insurance coverage in the event of a work-related incident involving personal injury or death. It will be more profitable for everyone to get real welder qualifications .

Welders should be certified only in those training and certification organizations that are accredited by NAKS and conduct training of welders according to NAKS programs and knowledge testing in accordance with its regulations.

Finding those training and certification organizations is not difficult: a complete list of centers is provided on the Agency’s portal.[/stexbox]

Welder certificate with coupon

We will issue a WELDER'S CERTIFICATE
for various directions (electric, gas, electric and gas) in 1-2 working days. All registration is completely legal. The only condition is that the welder must be experienced (have considerable experience) and have been trained previously. Upon completion, you will receive the certificate itself, a PTM coupon (permit for hot work), an extract from the protocol, if required, a copy of the license of the training center where the entire package of documents was drawn up. You can find the documents required for the process in the Documents section.

Why do you need a welder's license?

First, we need to talk about a welder’s certificate. Good day, dear entrepreneurs! Yes, yes, this article was written for YOU, because only YOU can send your welder to confirm his qualifications. It is with YOUR kind encouragement (and during a serious inspection it will be you who will be asked) that your employee can receive a welder’s certificate

. Without the necessary documents in the form of an application, etc., issued by YOUR organization, not a single plant or a decent agent will be able to help in resolving this issue. Yes, there are those who are simply engaged in selling such a valuable document, but I think you can guess what awaits you if the ID is fake (no one has yet repealed the criminal code). And it is for this reason that I decided to write this article. When you hire a welder, I think you yourself can guess that he must have supporting documents on education in this field and proof of experience. By occupation, I, like many of you, am a labor protection specialist, and from personal experience I saw how a guy was hired, and he was not even 18 yet (I have no idea where he got the necessary documents), although in the “Rules for Certification of Welders” it is clearly stated in Russian that youths under 18 are not allowed to undergo certification. Moreover, until you have at least 6 months of experience, you won’t get any certificate! This means he ran into a careless agent who just wanted to “make money” easily, and bought it (or maybe he just bought it on the subway, God knows). And how many visitors come to get a job, and they have a whole package of documents with paint that has not yet dried? This is where it comes from. I understand that projects are on fire, customers are demanding, you hire anyone as long as you know the business, but when the rooster bites, we don’t know where to go. No matter how you look at it, you still need to formalize it. Our bureaucracy is not yet perfect. By the way, I’ll make a note to some personnel officers who require a welder to have a valid ID when hiring. You don't have the right to do this. Even if he still has documents from his previous job, he will still have to undergo recertification. When hired, a new employee can confirm his belonging to a given profession with other documents (work record, diploma, etc.), but not as a certificate. And only then, during the probationary period, the welder passes certification. Well, I digress, let's move on to our sheep.

How to get a welder certification certificate

There are 2 ways to solve the “problem of the century” with confirmation of qualifications for a welder:

• This is to send your employee to a training center, and let him “sweat” for 60 hours there, and you’ll see how smart he gets (60 academic hours - about a month). But the trouble is, you won’t see your employee until a month later (if the commission allows it, of course, and she’s feisty, no doubt about it). But on the other hand, if your employee is an “unfired sparrow,” then it’s better to sit at his desk.
• Contact a decent agent who has connections in this direction, and after 2-3 business days you can safely submit the completed documents into the “bureaucratic machine.” But in this case there are several nuances:
• a.) Your employee must be experienced in all areas of welding (for clarity, the inspector can force welding on both the ceiling and a non-rotating device)
• b.) The theoretical part should “bounce off his teeth” (even customers sometimes ask questions for verification).

If you are confident in your worker on these points, then you should contact an agent for help in obtaining a welder’s certificate (fortunately, this service is on-the-job).

By the way, I have posted a link here to a scanned table from the “Rules for Certification of Welders”, you can use it to check the professionalism of your specialist (you can also use Order 1101). Certification must be renewed annually, or if the welder has not worked for more than 6 months, as well as when switching to new technologies, or new materials unknown to him.

I would also like to discuss the issue of the appearance of the ID. I am often asked, what does the welder’s certificate you are applying for look like? Cooperation with several organizations specializing in this direction, as well as the “Rules for Certification of Welders” can convince anyone that in Russia, according to the current rules, there cannot be any other types of certificates (I am not mentioning NAKS certificates at the moment. This topic for a separate article).

I specially scanned some pages from the “rules” and posted them here (you can read them at your leisure).

title page (please note the indicated size is 85X120 mm)

I also posted a visual aid (also a scan from the same place) of the certification protocol, the first part

the second part (by the way, when contacting the agent, do not forget to ask if he will provide a copy of the protocol). Below is the final sample of the welder's certificate

, issued by the educational course center (if it religiously follows the current rules).

Sample welder certificate

The form is produced in a specialized printing house that has the appropriate accreditation. Vinyl coated cardboard base. When opened, it measures 85mm by 230mm. Has 6 pages.

1 sheet

2 sheet

3 sheet

I hope, dear gentlemen, entrepreneurs, now you know how to properly hire a welder, how to issue proof of qualifications for him, and how not to “get caught” with the documents drawn up.

Finally, I would like to raise another important question:

What is better, buy a welder’s certificate, or issue one in accordance with Health and Safety

We do not offer to buy a welder’s certificate, we offer to issue it in accordance with existing rules and regulations in Labor Protection.

When purchasing such a valuable document, many do not even think about what such a purchase could mean for them.

It is no secret that forgery of documents is a criminal offense. At best, you can get away with a LARGE fine, at worst, you can get jail time.

If an incident occurs in an organization (injury, accident, death) in which an employee with a purchased certificate suffers, then the commission created for this case will immediately detect a fake, and the administrative proceedings will immediately turn into criminal ones. But that's not scary. It is scary that the family of the victim will not receive the required compensation, and the family of the deceased will not receive the required insurance.

One of my clients once told me a case - he was seduced by the speed of receipt, and, accordingly, by the price, and bought several “crusts” for his employees. Check in a few days. The inspector just had to call the training center, and within five minutes the quality of the documents being checked was immediately revealed. The investigation lasted for about six months. Naturally, there was no talk of any work. By a court decision, the company had to be closed (the company is more than 10 years old, a lot of work over so many years has gone down the drain), a fine had to be paid in excess of half a million, the nervous system was completely damaged.

This is what the Internet request “ buy a welder’s license”

". When asking Yandex similar keywords, my advice to you is to think about whether you need it, whether the purchased document will be useful, or whether it might be better to focus your attention on the “issue” request. If the latter is more to your liking, then we can help you with this. Registration takes no more than 3 working days, but throughout the year you will sleep peacefully.

What other certificates are needed for a welder?

In addition to the main certification, a welder may need some other certification documents during his work:

• Height tolerance. Sometimes a welder needs to work from towers and scaffolds and may need a height permit. Issued in accordance with Order 155n (with our help - one or two working days)
• PTM coupon - permit for hot work. Ours comes with a welder's certificate.
• Electrical safety approval. To work with electrical equipment, electric welders need to obtain group 2 electrical safety approval for repair personnel (previously this was called electrical engineering personnel).

Welder certificate price

The price for a welder's license (electric or gas) now ranges from RUR 3,500 and above. This means an attestation certificate. You don’t even have to look for NAKS, because this is a very serious organization where you can’t solve the issue in a few days and without interrupting your work. You can find it cheaper, well, I think you understand what kind of documents they will be.

The article uses materials: “Welder Certification Certificate”, Resolution 1/29, Order 1101

Useful articles: Electrician's certificate We issue a welder's certificate with a protocol and a PTM coupon in a few days

What other credentials are needed?

In order to obtain permission to perform welding work, knowledge and skills in the field of welding alone are not enough . It is difficult to imagine a production where the entire metal structure to be welded is placed on a workbench.

As a rule, you have to weld from a scaffold to weld the seams in the upper part of the product. High temperatures and flying sparks during welding and grinding make the production process a fire hazard. Connecting welding equipment means working with electrical equipment, including high voltage.

You will also need to obtain:

• permission to work at height if welding occurs at a level above 1.3 meters;
• for electric welding, an electrical safety permit is required at the level of the second group ; previously this was called a permit for repair personnel;
• fire safety permit (so-called PTM coupon).

Most training and certification centers include these admissions in the training and knowledge testing program . If a specialist has been trained separately and has appropriate certificates with sufficient validity, they can be attached to the package of documents submitted to obtain an attestation certificate.

Gas welder

Gas welding is much less common than electrode welding, but in some cases you simply cannot do without it. The welding process takes place using a gas torch, which mixes acetylene with oxygen in certain proportions and a filler element - a special welding wire. In the process of training to become a gas welder, one learns the intricacies and features of welding parts made of tool steels and non-ferrous metals. Often, along with obtaining a gas welder’s certificate, these specialists undergo additional certification and are issued a gas cutter’s certificate, which gives them the right to access maintenance, operation, storage, transportation of cylinders with liquefied carbon gas (propane-butane) and work with gas burners.

Validity

The document is valid for one year from the date of issue . The deadline is indicated on the first page of the document. Upon completion, the specialist will have to undergo certification in order to renew the certificate.

The validity period may expire earlier if the employee was suspended from work for deviations from technological requirements and defects. Then he undergoes an extraordinary certification.

The administration of the enterprise is obliged to monitor the validity of the certificates of its employees and organize recertification in a timely manner. The employee himself is also interested in not missing the deadline - after all, he will lose the right to insurance compensation for accidents and will be removed from his main job.

Completing of the work

The main table of the journal tells about what and to what extent of work was carried out, whose columns contain:

• Date of completion of work, shift.
• The name of the elements being connected, their steel grade.
• The location and number of the welding joint is determined from the drawing or diagram.
• A mark on delivery and acceptance of the welded assembly.
• What welding materials were used, their delivery batch number.
• Climatic conditions (usually only temperature is indicated, but it is also advisable to indicate wind speed and the presence of precipitation).
• Details of the welder, his license number.
• Brand number and personal signature of the employee.
• The signature of the person responsible for the work (site foreman, chief engineer, etc., this is a mandatory item in each column.).
• Has the welded joint been accepted? If yes, then it is given “satisfactory”.
• Notes or comments on the work performed.

At the very end of the magazine it is noted how many pages it contains. Firmware for a magazine involves connecting its individual pages with threads, numbering each one, and sealing this structure with a paper strip. There should also be a seal of the organization here. It should partially cover the spine of the magazine's firmware. The signature of the manager who must keep the document completes the picture.

Attention! The welding work log must be kept for at least 10 years from the date of preparation. And if employees worked in hazardous working conditions, then all 75. If desired, documentation of this kind is transferred to the archive.

How many times should I renew?

How many times can the validity of an attestation certificate be extended? No more than two, then the specialist undergoes periodic certification . Only a valid certificate can be renewed.

The enterprise, no less than 15 days before the expiration date, submits an application to the certification center, which describes:

• information about the specialist
• groups of technical objects;
• type of welding;
• group, class and grades of materials being welded (metal, polymer, etc.), their thickness;
• types and types of seams, positions;
• level of automation of welding equipment;

Upon successful completion of certification, the welder's qualifications are extended. The extension period depends on the level of the specialist: 1 - for one year, 2 and 3 - for 1.5 years, 4 - for 2.5 years .

If the welder fails the certification, no entries are made and the certification becomes invalid.