Records Retention Schedule for API 570
API 570 names this requirement as "NDE written practice, Level III-approved method procedures and examiner certification records". The QA manager owns it, and a contracted Level III can author and sign it.
The finding auditors record against this document is: Readings recorded against a line number rather than a permanent condition monitoring location identifier, so no corrosion rate can be trended. API 570 is built around circuits, not vessels, and that changes what a service provider must deliver. Piping is classified by consequence of failure, condition monitoring locations are the unit of record, and the code singles out injection points, dead legs, small-bore piping, corrosion under insulation and soil-to-air interfaces as the places programmes fail. The code is explicitly written for outsourcing: it states it is intended for use by organizations that maintain or have access to an authorized inspection agency, a repair organization, and technically qualified piping engineers, inspectors and examiners, all as defined in its definitions section. The Authorized Piping Inspector must hold API 570 certification. The examiner performing the NDE need not, and normally does not.
Source: API 570 Body of Knowledge for the February, June and October 2026 exams, api.org — verified for the reference publication list (API 570; API RP 571, 574, 576, 577 and 578; ASME Section V, Section IX, B16.5, B31.3 and PCC-2), for the ASME Section V Articles in scope (Article 1 general requirements including owner/user and subcontractor responsibilities, calibration, the definitions of inspection and examination and record keeping; Article 2 radiographic; Article 6 liquid penetrant with mandatory appendices II and III; Article 7 magnetic particle, yoke and prod only; Article 9 visual; Article 10 leak testing with mandatory appendix I; Article 23 SE-797 ultrasonic thickness), and for the ASME PCC-2 articles examined. API 570 4th edition publisher's preview, api.org — verified for the scope statement, the exclusion of instrumentation, exchanger tubes and control valves, the treatment of abandoned versus mothballed piping, and the statement that the code is intended for organizations that maintain or have access to an authorized inspection agency, a repair organization, and technically qualified piping engineers, inspectors and examiners as defined in Section 3. API Standard 570 announcement page confirms the 5th edition; the February 2024 date comes from reseller listings. API ICP Schedules & Fees for fees and 2026 exam windows. The class-based maximum thickness-measurement and external-visual intervals were not verified against the 5th edition text and are therefore described here without figures.
| Item | What applies | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Regime | API Standard 570, Piping Inspection Code: In-service Inspection, Rating, Repair, and Alteration of Piping Systems — Owner-User Piping Inspection Programme | Enforced by American Petroleum Institute. API's Individual Certification Programs office certifies the Authorized Piping Inspector; the piping inspection programme is owned and enforced by the owner-user, and audited by the owner-user or by OSHA under process safety management |
| 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 | Authorized Piping Inspector evaluates the data, computes short-term and long-term corrosion rates and sets the next interval; Findings. | Usually against a sampled job, not in isolation |
| Common failure | Readings recorded against a line number rather than a permanent condition monitoring location identifier, so no corrosion rate can be trended | The gap between the manual and the job file |
What must a records retention schedule contain under API 570?
It has to satisfy API 570 as American Petroleum Institute. API's Individual Certification Programs office certifies the Authorized Piping Inspector; the piping inspection programme is owned and enforced by the owner-user, and audited by the owner-user or by OSHA under process safety management 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 570?
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 570 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 570 records be kept?
No company certificate. The individual API 570 certificate runs three years, on the same ICP rules as API 510: at least 20% of time over the certification period performing or supervising inspection, 24 CPD hours per three-year cycle, and a 25-question open-book web quiz every six years. Published fees are $875 USD member and $1,125 non-member for initial certification, $745 and $855 for recertification, and $350 to reschedule. The 2026 API 570 exam windows are 6–27 February and 5–26 June 2026. The code itself is on API's own revision cycle; the 5th edition is current. 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 570?
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 570 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: Readings recorded against a line number rather than a permanent condition monitoring location identifier, so no corrosion rate can be trended
Where this sits in the API 570 evidence pack
- Owner-user piping inspection programme with the piping circuit list and each circuit's class designation
- Current API 570 certificate for each Authorized Piping Inspector
- Isometric drawings with condition monitoring locations and thickness measurement locations permanently identified
- Injection point, dead leg, small-bore piping and corrosion-under-insulation inspection registers
- NDE written practice, Level III-approved method procedures and examiner certification records
- Thickness data history with both short-term and long-term corrosion rates calculated
- Inspection reports signed by the Authorized Piping Inspector
- Repair, alteration and rerating records including welding procedure specifications, procedure qualification records and pressure test records
- Insulation removal and reinstatement records supporting corrosion-under-insulation inspection
Personnel certification context
The same split as API 510, with one distinctive feature. The Authorized Piping Inspector holds API's central, third-party API 570 certification, which no employer can issue. The examiner is certified by his employer under a written practice built on ASNT SNT-TC-1A, ANSI/ASNT CP-189 or ACCP, so an outsourced Level III can own the written practice, approve the procedures and certify the technicians. The distinctive feature is that the API 570 body of knowledge itself teaches the inspector ASME Section V Articles 1, 2, 6, 7, 9, 10 and Article 23 SE-797 — the inspector is expected to audit your procedures, not merely receive your results. API's QUTE, QUSE, QUSE-PA and QUPA ultrasonic examiner qualifications are increasingly specified for piping corrosion mapping and weld phased array.
Related: the API 570 overview, outsourced ASNT Level III cover, written practice development, NDT procedure development, a programme gap assessment, interim Level III cover.