C-N6N6 Approved fabricators and erectors

This provision is not intended to duplicate quality control (QC) inspections with quality assurance (QA) inspections, but rather to make it clear that all QA inspections that are part of this chapter are to be performed and documented appropriately.

IBC Section 1704.2.5.1 (ICC, 2021) states that

Special inspections during fabrication are not required where the work is done on the premises of a fabricator approved to perform such work without special inspection.

Approval shall be based on review of the fabricator’s written fabrication procedures and quality control manuals that provide a basis for control of materials and workmanship, with periodic auditing of fabrication and quality control practices by an approved agency or the building official.

An example of how these approvals may be made by the building official or authority having jurisdiction (AHJ) is the use of the AISC Certification program. A fabricator certified to the AISC Standard for Certification Programs (AISC, 2020) meets the criteria of having a quality control manual, written procedures, and annual onsite audits conducted by AISC’s independent auditing company, Quality Management Company, LLC. Similarly, steel erectors may be an AISC Certified Erector. The audits confirm that the company has the personnel, knowledge, organization, equipment, experience, capability, procedures, and commitment to produce the required quality of work for a given certification category.

Granting a waiver of QA inspections in a fabrication shop does not eliminate the required nondestructive testing (NDT) of welds; instead of being performed by QA, such inspections are instead performed by the fabricator’s QC. Even when QA inspection is waived, the NDT reports prepared by the fabricator’s QC are available for review by a third-party QA.