Records Retention Schedule for API 510
API 510 names this requirement as "Examiner certification records and current annual eye examinations". The QA manager owns it, and a contracted Level III can author and sign it.
The finding auditors record against this document is: Examiner taking thickness readings and also signing the evaluation against API 510 without written authorisation from the owner-user. API 510 is not a certificate a service company holds; it is the owner-user's programme, and it defines the roles your people fill. It separates the API Authorized Pressure Vessel Inspector, who holds API's central certification and evaluates results against the code, from the examiner, who performs the nondestructive examination and does not evaluate against API 510 unless specifically trained and authorised to do so by the owner-user. Selling into this regime means selling examiner hours plus the paperwork that makes them admissible: an accepted written practice, Level III-approved procedures, current examiner certifications and calibrated equipment. Inspection types are external visual, internal or on-stream, and thickness measurement, each running on its own interval cap, and each producing records the owner-user must be able to defend.
Source: API 510 certification page, api.org, accessed 21 August 2026 — verified for the education and experience eligibility ladder (BS or 3+ years military technical service plus 1 year; 2-year degree or 2 years military plus 2 years; high school diploma plus 3 years; no formal education plus 5+ years, each with a supervision component), the 7.5-hour exam day, 170 questions of which 140 are scored, split 110 closed-book and 60 open-book, the three-year recertification cycle, the 20% time requirement, 24 CPD hours per three-year cycle and the 25-question web quiz every six years. API ICP Schedules & Fees page — verified for $875/$1,125 initial, $745/$855 recertification, $350 reschedule, and the 2026 exam windows. API ICP Policies page — verified that the term of certification is three years and the open-book quiz is required every six years for 510, 570, 653, 936 and 1169. API Standard 510 announcement page — confirms the 11th edition, which added a detailed section for the analysis of inspection results; the October 2022 publication date comes from reseller listings, not from API's own page. Inspection-interval caps commonly cited for the 11th edition (internal or on-stream at the lesser of half the remaining corrosion life or ten years; external visual at the lesser of five years or the internal/on-stream interval) were cross-checked against two independent secondary summaries and NOT against the code text — confirm against API 510 before publishing them as figures.
| Item | What applies | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Regime | API Standard 510, Pressure Vessel Inspection Code: In-service Inspection, Rating, Repair, and Alteration — Owner-User Inspection Programme | Enforced by American Petroleum Institute. API's Individual Certification Programs (ICP) office certifies the Authorized Pressure Vessel Inspector; the inspection programme itself is owned and enforced by the owner-user, and by the boiler and pressure vessel jurisdiction where the state has adopted API 510 |
| Document | Records Retention Schedule | how long each record is kept, where, and who can retrieve it during an audit |
| Owner | the QA manager | The signature an auditor traces back |
| Where it is checked | Inspection report issued, remaining life and next inspection date calculated, and any repair or alteration approved by the. | Usually against a sampled job, not in isolation |
| Common failure | Examiner taking thickness readings and also signing the evaluation against API 510 without written authorisation from the owner-user | The gap between the manual and the job file |
What must a records retention schedule contain under API 510?
It has to satisfy API 510 as American Petroleum Institute. API's Individual Certification Programs (ICP) office certifies the Authorized Pressure Vessel Inspector; the inspection programme itself is owned and enforced by the owner-user, and by the boiler and pressure vessel jurisdiction where the state has adopted API 510 enforces it: how long each record is kept, where, and who can retrieve it during an audit. The test is not completeness on paper but traceability — an auditor picks a finished job and works backwards to this document, so anything it claims must be demonstrable on that job.
Who signs the records retention schedule for API 510?
The QA manager. Because this regime accepts employer-based certification, that role can be filled by a contracted Level III rather than a staff appointment, provided they are qualified in the methods they sign for.
How does a API 510 auditor test this document?
By sampling. They take a completed job, find the technicians and equipment used, and trace each back through this document to the evidence behind it. A document that reads well but cannot survive that trace is the most common finding across every regime, not just this one.
How long must API 510 records be kept?
There is no company certificate to renew. The individual API 510 certificate runs for a three-year term. Recertification requires that the inspector has spent a minimum of 20% of his time over the most recent three-year certification period performing or supervising inspection activities, and has completed 24 CPD hours within each three-year cycle; an online open-book quiz of 25 questions with a four-hour limit is required every six years. API's published fees for the 510, 570 and 653 programmes are $875 USD for members and $1,125 for non-members for initial certification, $745 and $855 for recertification, and $350 to reschedule an exam. The 2026 API 510 exam windows are 2–23 January and 8–29 May 2026. Retention is set by the regime and by the client contract above it, and the longer of the two governs. Firms that set one retention period for everything and document it fare better at audit than firms tracking different periods per record type and losing track.
Does a generic template satisfy API 510?
No. A downloaded template describes a generic firm, and the first question an auditor asks is whether the document describes THIS firm — its methods, its equipment, its people, its actual workflow. Templates are a starting structure; the content has to be the firm's own or the trace fails immediately.
What happens if this document is missing at a API 510 audit?
It is a finding, and depending on the regime it can suspend the certificate rather than merely generate a corrective action. The related finding auditors record most often is: Examiner taking thickness readings and also signing the evaluation against API 510 without written authorisation from the owner-user
Where this sits in the API 510 evidence pack
- Owner-user inspection programme document naming the Authorized Inspector and defining what the examiner is authorised to evaluate
- Current API 510 certificate for each Authorized Pressure Vessel Inspector, with the recertification due date
- NDE written practice, and the Level III approval on each method procedure
- Examiner certification records and current annual eye examinations
- Thickness measurement location and condition monitoring location drawings, and the full reading history against those identifiers
- Corrosion rate and remaining-life calculations supporting the next inspection date
- Inspection report signed by the Authorized Inspector, kept distinct from the examiner's data report
- Repair and alteration records, including welding procedure specifications, procedure qualification records and the Authorized Inspector's acceptance
- Equipment calibration records and certification of ultrasonic calibration blocks
Personnel certification context
Split, and the split is the commercial point. The Authorized Pressure Vessel Inspector must hold API 510 certification — a central, third-party certification examined by API and delivered through Prometric. No employer can issue it and no outsourced Level III can substitute for it. The NDE examiner side is entirely employer-based: examiners are certified under an employer's written practice built on ASNT SNT-TC-1A, ANSI/ASNT CP-189 or ACCP, so an outsourced Level III can write and approve the method procedures, administer and grade examinations and recommend certification, with the employer's designated certifying authority signing. API additionally operates ultrasonic examiner qualification programmes — QUTE, QUSE, QUSE-PA and QUPA — that some owner-users specify on top of ASNT certification for corrosion mapping and weld phased array.
Related: the API 510 overview, outsourced ASNT Level III cover, written practice development, NDT procedure development, a programme gap assessment, interim Level III cover.