Welder continuity log. A free Excel template, and what it must show.

What a continuity log is for

A welder's certificate has a date on it, but the date alone doesn't keep it valid. Under ISO 9606-1 and under ASME IX a qualification stays alive only while the welder keeps welding with the process, and only if someone records that they did. The continuity log is that record: one row per welder and per certificate, the last time continuity was confirmed, the next date it's due, and the job records that prove it.

It answers the question an auditor or your client's inspector will ask sooner or later: was this welder qualified on the day they welded this joint? If the log can't answer it, the certificate in the folder won't either.

What ISO 9606-1 asks

The standard is EN ISO 9606-1:2017, the European adoption of ISO 9606-1:2012. Two clauses set the dates in this log.

• Confirmation every six months (9.2). The welding coordinator, or the examiner or examining body, confirms that the welder has worked within the range of qualification. If it isn't confirmed, the certificate becomes invalid. A signature added after the six months doesn't cover the gap.
• 9.3 a. The welder is retested every three years.
• 9.3 b. Every two years, two welds made in the last six months of the validity period are tested by radiography, ultrasonic testing or destructive tests, and the records are kept with the certificate.
• 9.3 c. The qualification stays valid as long as it's confirmed every six months and the conditions hold: the welder works for the same manufacturer, the manufacturer's quality system is verified to ISO 3834-2 or ISO 3834-3, and the manufacturer documents that the welder produces welds of acceptable quality to the application standard.

The prolongation method is chosen when the certificate is issued and is written on it. Under 9.3 c the six-monthly confirmations are the whole story: miss one and there's nothing left to prolong. Under 9.3 b the two welds have to come from the last six months before the date, so plan them early.

What ASME IX asks

ASME IX works per process. Under QW-322.1(a), a welder who hasn't welded with a process for six months or more loses their qualifications for that process. Each time they weld with it, the six months start again, and that keeps every qualification they hold for that process. So for an ASME welder the log needs one date per process: the last time they used it.

• An expired qualification can be renewed under QW-322.2 by welding a single test coupon. A pass brings back the welder's previous qualifications for that process.
• When there's a specific reason to question a welder's ability to make welds that meet the specification, the qualifications that support the welding they're doing are revoked (QW-322.1(b)). The others stay. Write the reason in the notes.

Section IX itself sets no calendar expiry beyond continuity. A construction code, your client or your own quality manual may add one; if so, note it in the row.

How to fill it in

• One row per welder per certificate. A welder with a 135 plate certificate and a 141 tube certificate has two rows and two clocks.
• Stamp / ID. The mark the welder puts next to each weld, or records against it. It's what ties this row to the joints in your weld map and weld log.
• Qualification. Copy the designation from the certificate, for example ISO 9606-1 135 P BW FM1 S t10 PF ss nb. You need it to judge whether a job's weld counts as evidence: the weld must sit inside that range.
• Qualification date. The date the test piece was welded. Validity starts from it.
• Validity route. The prolongation method on the certificate (9.3 a, b or c), or ASME IX.
• Last confirmation. For ISO, the date of the latest six-monthly signature. For ASME, the latest date the welder used the process.
• The four (auto) columns. Next due is six months after the latest of the qualification date, the last retest or prolongation, and the last confirmation. Revalidation is three years (9.3 a) or two years (9.3 b) from the test or the last revalidation. Status turns amber 30 days before a confirmation and 180 days before a revalidation, and red once a date has passed.
• Confirmed by and evidence. Name and role, then the job, the joints and the weld record that show the welder worked within the range. This is the column auditors read.

Common mistakes

• Watching only the date on the certificate. A certificate can show an expiry two years away and already be invalid, because a confirmation was missed.
• Signing a year of confirmations in one go before an audit. The signature says the welder worked within the range; without the evidence column it says nothing.
• Evidence outside the range. Welding 141 on tube doesn't confirm a 135 plate certificate.
• One row per welder instead of one per certificate. Two certificates, two clocks.
• Applying the ISO rule to an ASME qualification, or the other way round. ASME counts from the last weld with the process; ISO counts from the last confirmation.
• Route 9.3 b left to the last month. The two welds must come from the last six months: if nobody planned them, the only route left is a new test.

Where a spreadsheet stops

This file does the date arithmetic, and for a handful of welders that's often enough. It stops working as the shop grows. It knows only what someone types in: when a welder welds a joint, nobody updates the row. It doesn't remind anyone, because the colours change only when someone opens the file. The evidence column is text, with no link to the joint that was actually welded. And nothing stops a lapsed welder from being put on the next job, or checks that the joint is inside the ranges of their certificate.

In Worgify, every weld recorded on a joint counts as continuity for the welder who made it, confirmations and revalidations are flagged before they fall due, and a welder whose qualification has lapsed, or doesn't cover the joint, can't be assigned to it.

Terms used on this page: continuity, WPQ, WPS.