Australian legislation does not enforce welding standards by making them mandatory, posing a risk to both public and worker safety. This needs to change.
Over the past 12 months, Weld Australia has been shocked at the number of unsafe steel structures reported by industry. The primary cause of these safety concerns is welding that is not fit for purpose and does not comply with recognised international and Australian standards.
Australian standards are as good, if not better than, anywhere else in the world. The problem is that very few Australian standards are supported by regulation or legislation and are therefore only applied on a voluntary basis.
Without any compulsion to manufacture or procure products according to a recognised standard, companies take the lowest-cost option, which is often detrimental to public safety and the safety of on-site workers. When product is inspected and found to be non-compliant, many companies refuse to accept responsibility for rectifying the structure, opting instead to take the risk or trying to pass on liability to another part of the supply chain.
The problem is that, if structures and components are not fabricated in accordance with Australian standards, there is simply no way to guarantee that they will not fail.
The entire life cycle of the welding process — from design right through to inspection — must consider all aspects that could affect weld quality, and therefore public and on-site worker safety. This type of approach is essential because it is impossible to undertake verification of a completed welded joint, particularly if it has been painted over and galvanised.
Inspection after completion simply does not guarantee weld serviceability — quality must be built into the welding process, right from the very beginning.
In addition, there is no mandated licensing or certification system for welders in Australia. The combination of the two issues is a major threat to public safety. The Australian public is being placed at unnecessary risk.
By comparison, in Europe and North America, not only is compliance with international standards mandatory, it is also compulsory that all welding is carried out by a qualified and certified welder.
There have been plenty of examples of non-compliance to Australian standards reported in the news recently: a sign over the Tullamarine Freeway in Melbourne fell on a car in January, narrowly avoiding killing the driver; the Opal apartment tower in Sydney had to be evacuated because of structural cracking; and workers on both the West Gate Tunnel toll road and the Metro Tunnel rail line in Melbourne were exposed to toxic lead paint while welding steel imported from Singapore.
The lack of fatalities to date is pure luck; it simply will not last with the current level of regulation.
The current state of welding regulations
Australia removed the regulations that mandated compliance to Australian standards in an attempt to cut through the regulatory red tape imposed on Australian industry, in a bid to give our homegrown manufacturers more of an opportunity to compete within an increasingly global marketplace.
Weld Australia believes this has resulted in a substantial portion of our local industry — and therefore local jobs — shifting overseas, and that the lack of regulation could put Australian lives at risk.
The way forward
The federal government must show leadership and amend the necessary regulations to mandate compliance to Australian standards, or wear the consequential loss of life.
It is critical that:
- Fabrication completed in Australia is compliant with AS/NZS 1554 Structural steel welding;
- Welders are qualified to ISO 9606 Qualification testing of welders;
- Welding and fabrication companies are certified to AS/NZS ISO 3834 Quality requirements for fusion welding of metallic materials;
- Workplace health and safety legislation holds the importer responsible for ensuring mandatory compliance to relevant Australian or international standards governing welding production and fabrication.
Clearly these regulations are necessary, as evidenced by the specifications developed by Roads and Maritime Services (RMS) in New South Wales. RMS has already rolled out a highly successful welding safety control system under which companies must be certified to AS/NZS ISO 3834 in order to undertake work on gantries and bridges. The other states have yet to implement similar systems.
The only way to guarantee public safety is to implement and enforce regulations that mandate compliance to Australian standards for the manufacture, fabrication and erection of steel within Australia, and the inspection of imported structural and fabricated steel.
Weld Australia is committed to ensuring that no Australian lives are lost through an accident caused by non-compliant welding, without causing undue regulatory burden on industry. As such, Weld Australia has established a program to help qualify and certify and welders according to ISO 9606 Qualification testing of welders – Fusion welding. ISO 9606 is a simple test that assesses welding competency according to a specific weld procedure, based on a practical acceptance criteria. It is the only standard in the world which is accepted in both Europe and America, and is the minimum requirement for working on rolling stock, defence and infrastructure projects. Once qualified according to ISO 9606, Australian welders can then register on the Australian Welder Certification Register (AWCR), which is a de facto licensing system in the absence of government support. To ensure that welding qualifications and certifications are formally recognised in legislation, it would greatly help to have Australian industry support the AWCR. Please get behind this important initiative and register yourself, your employees and subcontractors. Weld Australia needs your support to ensure the status of licensed welder is reintroduced to Australia. For more information about Weld Australia, visit www.weldaustralia.com.au. For more information on the AWCR, visit https://awcr.org.au. |
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