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ISO 3834 - Welding process quality management systems.

On July 1, 2009, Ministerial Decree 14/01/2008 on the New Technical Standards for Construction came into effect, and all operators in the industry must bring their structures into compliance with the new requirements. Section 11.3.4.5 Welding Process, states: "In relation to the type of manufactured goods made by means of welded joints, the manufacturer shall be certified according to UNI EN ISO 3834:2006 parts 2 and 4; the level of technical knowledge of the personnel coordinating welding operations shall correspond to the requirements of the standard of proven validity..."

The standards of the UNI EN ISO 3834 - "Quality requirements for fusion welding of metallic materials" series are, to date, the international reference for the certification of management systems specifically oriented to the welding process. The standard has been structured so that it can be used for fabrication, both in the shop and on the construction site, of any type of fusion-welded construction. Thus, the standard is applicable to a wide range of manufacturers that may include, for example: companies that make welded structures for construction, companies that make welded structures for traditional plant applications (plants and power plants), and companies that operate in the plant engineering field (chemical plants, petrochemical plants, power generation, steel plants, etc.)

The UNI EN ISO 9001 and UNI EN ISO 3834 standards complement each other perfectly being the former related to the management of Quality Systems and the latter addressed to the control of the manufacturing process by welding.

However, the UNI ENE ISO 3834 standard can be considered self-sufficient, that is, it can also be applied on its own whenever welding operations are to be organized and managed in quality. In fact, welding as a "special process" turns out to be relevant to the quality of manufactured goods, as it cannot be directly controlled but must be constructed during production.

This requires special controls and requirements and appropriate expertise before, during and after production. The certification of the company and personnel should be done by a third-party body, chosen, in the absence of requirements, by the manufacturer according to criteria of independence and competence (ref. M.D. 14/01/2008 11.3.4.5).