Dan's Welding has been certified by the Canadian Welding Bureau since 1960, and the certificate on the wall is the one thing about this shop that an engineer, a contractor or a plant maintenance manager will ask about before they ask about price. It is also one of the least understood lines on any welding shop's website. This post explains what the certification covers, what it does not, and how to tell whether your job needs it.
What CSA W47.1 Is
CSA W47.1 is the Canadian standard for the certification of companies that fusion weld steel. The Canadian Welding Bureau runs the certification program on behalf of the standard. A company certified to W47.1 has been audited and has three things in place: a qualified welding supervisor who is responsible for the welding, written welding procedures that were tested and approved by the CWB, and welders who passed CWB tests on the processes and positions they use in the shop.
The certification is to the company, not just to the welders. That is the part most people miss. A welder with a valid CWB ticket working in an uncertified shop is not producing certified welds, because there is no approved procedure and no supervisor on record behind the work. A certified shop with ticketed welders, approved procedures and a supervisor signing off is what the standard means.
Division 1, 2 and 3
W47.1 has three divisions and they are about engineering staff, not weld quality. Division 1 means the company has a full time professional engineer on staff responsible for welding. Division 2 means it has a part time engineer under contract. Division 3 means it has a qualified welding supervisor and does not keep an engineer on staff. The welds produced under all three divisions are made to the same tested procedures by welders holding the same tickets.
Dan's Welding is certified in Division 3, which is the right fit for a job shop. When a project needs an engineer, the engineer is usually the customer's or the general contractor's, and they stamp the drawings. Our part is to weld to the procedure the drawing calls for and to prove that we did.
How a Welder Gets a Ticket
A CWB welder ticket is earned by welding test plates in front of a CWB test supervisor, and the plates are bent or broken to see whether the weld holds. Tickets are specific. A welder is qualified for a process such as MIG, flux core, stick or TIG, for a position such as flat, horizontal, vertical or overhead, and for a plate thickness range. A welder who has a flat position MIG ticket is not qualified to weld overhead on a structural job until they test for it. Tickets are retested on a schedule, and a welder who has not used a process for a period loses the qualification until they test again.
Every welder on this floor holds tickets for the work they do, and the supervisor keeps track of what each one is qualified for. When a structural job comes in, the welder assigned to it is the one with the right tickets for every joint on the drawing, not just whoever is free.
Welding Procedures
A welding procedure data sheet, usually called a WPDS, is the recipe for a specific joint: the process, the filler, the wire size, the gas, the amperage and voltage range, the travel speed, the joint preparation and the number of passes. The CWB reviews and approves each procedure before the shop can use it on certified work. The point is repeatability. Two welders working on the same procedure in two different weeks produce the same weld.
This matters more than people expect on everyday jobs. A heavy plate hopper or an equipment base that gets welded to a procedure is welded with the right preheat, the right filler and the right pass sequence for the thickness. A lot of cracked welds we are asked to repair were made without one.
Which Jobs Need a Certified Shop
Any welded steel that is part of a building or structure and gets looked at by an engineer or a building inspector needs to come from a W47.1 certified shop. That includes beams and columns, lintels, stair stringers and landings, platforms and mezzanines, guardrails on commercial and industrial sites, and supports for tanks, conveyors and equipment. The Ontario Building Code points at CSA S16 for steel design, and S16 requires fabricators to be certified to W47.1. Inspectors ask for the certificate.
Beyond the code, many general contractors, municipalities and plants put CWB certification on their vendor requirements for any welded steel, structural or not. If you are bidding on work for a plant in Hamilton or a contractor in Oakville, having a certified shop behind you is often the difference between being on the list and not.
A trailer hitch, a residential railing, a shop cart or a broken bucket does not legally need a certified shop. The job still gets the same ticketed welder working to the same habits, because that is how the shop runs. Nobody here switches to a lower standard on the small jobs.
What Certification Does Not Cover
W47.1 covers steel. Aluminum welding falls under a separate standard, CSA W47.2, and stainless is covered under W47.1 but with its own procedures and filler. Certification also does not inspect every weld. The shop is audited and the procedures are approved, and the supervisor is responsible for the welds leaving the building. If a project requires third party inspection, ultrasonic or magnetic particle testing of specific welds, that is specified on the drawing and arranged through an inspection company, and we build the joint prep and access for it into the work.
What to Ask a Welding Shop Before You Send Work
Ask for the CWB certificate number and check that it is current. Ours is CWB 471-186 and it is on the footer of every page of this site. Ask whether the welders who will work on your job hold tickets for the processes and positions it needs. Ask whether the shop has an approved procedure for the joint and material on your drawing, or will qualify one. Ask what documentation you will get back. For a stamped structural job that should include the certificate, the welder tickets and the procedure data sheets on request.
Then send the drawing. A structural job quoted at Dan's Welding is quoted with the procedure, the welder and the paperwork included, and the work comes out of the shop at 3485 Mainway in Burlington ready for the inspector. Customers bring certified work in from Hamilton, Oakville, Milton and Mississauga, and the welding and fabrication are quoted together.