CE Certification EN 1090
Certification to the requirements of EN1090 is an EU directive which became a mandatory requirement (in Ireland) for all manufacturers of steel and aluminium products on the 1st of July 2014. The enforcement of this requirement will be the responsibility of the purchaser, this may involve a third party review of the certification and controls or just confirmation that the certification is in place. Some purchasers will want to ensure their product is manufactured by a company that is CE certified others will not. Typically large companies and government bodies will not accept any product from a supplier who is not CE certified. Products can be small components, parts for a large structure or the complete structure itself.
Typically companies that will require certification to EN1090 will be manufacturers of steel and aluminium products that will incorporate some type of welding. In these cases the starting point for the company will be the appointment of a Welding Co-ordinator. This person will be responsible for the overall control of the product through manufacturing process. Companies certified to ISO9000 will already have some of the controls in place and well documented procedures and controls. EN1090 requires all aspects of the process to be documented and controlled.
Controls required by EN1090 include but are not limited to structural design and calculations, purchasing, inspection, calibration of equipment, control of dimensions and tolerances. EN1090 requires the product to be evaluated for conformance to specification and purchasing requirements. There are a number of Execution Classes that the product can be constructed to. These Execution Classes stipulate the conformance requirements, specifications and inspection requirements. Conformity to these Execution Classes will require testing and inspection to ensure they meet specification requirements.
Where welding is concerned there must be controls in place. This requires the manufacturer to put in place WPQR (Weld Procedure Qualification Records, WPS (Weld Specification Procedures) and ensure that all welders have valid WQTs (Welder Qualification Test) Certificates. The number of WPQRs needed will depend on the weld processes used, the material grades in use, the range of thickness welded and the type of weld geometry typically used in fabrication. WPQRs are inspected using various NDT methods and are then subjected to mechanical testing. All inspection records are part of the WPQR and unlike welder qualifications there is no expiry date on the WPQR. It would be expected that Welder Qualifications be available for all welders involved in fabrication. The level of qualification would be dependent on the skill level of the individual concerned. Typical tests for WQTs would be macro examination or radiography. Records of all testing should be available on file and be available for review.
