What You Do Matters

As Certified Welding Inspectors (CWIs), we show up, look at welds, write a report, and repeat. That routine can feel humdrum, but the work is important. I travel across the country investigating failures, and I have seen both competent welders and CWIs miss consequential conditions.

On one project, concrete fractured around shear studs welded to the back of a large steel embed supporting a roof beam. Seasonal temperature movement, combined with an overly stiff connection, resulted in more load than the designer assumed. During the repair, a welder installed new welds, and I was asked to assess the welds. For the first time as a CWI, I found a cracked weld. Had that crack gone unnoticed, the connection could have failed again. 
It felt satisfying to catch something consequential.

I also routinely inspect welds in parking structures, where flange-to-flange connections are especially vulnerable to fatigue from vehicle traffic. In some cases, after a garage has been welded out and given the OK by a CWI, I still find poor fit-up, welds in the wrong locations, welds that fail to meet visual acceptance criteria, and inspection reports that flag none of it. These joints support vehicles and help provide diaphragm action for lateral stability. One broken weld may seem manageable, but once one fails, the joint can unzip. Over time, the double tee can rock on its bearings, creating unsafe conditions. Again, improperly installed welds and the absence of a discerning CWI can pose a serious life-safety issue.

I once inspected welds on a fall-arrest system and found downhill welds, missing welds, and poor workmanship. By chance, I put a wrench on one anchor-rod nut, and it turned freely. The others were loose, too. When I pulled on the rods, all four came out of the holes; the part had been installed without nuts on the bolts. This device was intended to support personnel descending the facade of a 30-plus-story building. If someone had trusted it, the result could have been serious. Both installers and inspectors missed basic opportunities to verify that the work matched the specification.

I have also seen the opposite. On many projects, welders and attentive inspectors identify and correct issues long before they become problems. Most of that work never makes headlines, but it helps keep structures safe and serviceable every day.

America is being built one weld at a time. Welding takes skill. Inspection takes skill. Let’s do both as well as we can. The work we do helps keep ordinary people safe as they move through the built world. What we do matters. Make it count.

JEREMY O. WHEELESS (jwheeless@wje.com), PE, CWI, ASNT Level II MT, and Certified Welder, is a senior associate at Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates Inc., Austin, Tex.