ASME Section V Compliance for Inspection Service Providers

Any NDE contractor examining pressure-retaining items built or repaired to an ASME construction code — Section I power boilers, Section IV heating boilers, Section VIII pressure vessels, Section XII transport tanks, and B31.1 or B31. Personnel are qualified under employer-based certification, so a contracted Level III can sign the written practice and administer examinations for the firm.

3 piping — plus NBIC repair work that reaches Section V through the original code of construction. It binds the shop crew, the field crew and the outsourced NDE laboratory equally. Section V never applies on its own; a referencing Code Section invokes it. Section V certifies no company and no person. It tells an NDE provider how to run a method, and three obligations follow you into every audit. First, a written procedure for each method and technique, demonstrated capable of producing meaningful results to the satisfaction of the Authorized Inspector — Article 1, T-150. Second, examination equipment calibrated and that calibration recorded and available to the Inspector. Third, certification records for NDE personnel whose required contents are fixed by Article 1, T-190. Personnel qualification itself sits at Article 1, T-120, which routes out to the employer's written practice and to whichever editions of ASNT SNT-TC-1A, ANSI/ASNT CP-189 or ACCP the referencing Code Section accepts.

Source: ASME BPVC Section V product page, asme.org, 2025 edition current (BPVC editions listed as 2025, 2023, 2021). The National Board & ASME Guide (nationalboard.org / asme.org), sections 2.11, 3.10 and 6.2.10 — verified for Article 1 T-120 (personnel qualification, cited alongside SNT-TC-1A and AWS QC1), T-150 (procedures demonstrated capable of producing meaningful results to the satisfaction of the Inspector) and T-190 (contents of NDE personnel certification records); for the rule that RT and UT examiners must be certified to the Employer's written practice or a central certification programme; for MT/PT/VT certification on proficiency plus annual eye examination against SNT-TC-1A, CP-189 or ACCP in the current Code-accepted edition; and for the subcontracted Level III acceptance requirement quoted above. Article numbering cross-checked against the API 653 Publications Effectivity Sheet for March–November 2025 exams (Section V Articles 1, 2, 6, 7 and 23/SE-797, ASME BPVC 2023 edition) and the API 570 Body of Knowledge for February/June/October 2026 exams (Articles 1, 2, 6, 7, 9, 10 and 23/SE-797). ASNT SNT-TC-1A 2024 edition with addendum effective May 2025 per ASNT. Accessed 21 August 2026. Specific T-paragraph numbers beyond T-120, T-150 and T-190 were not independently verifiable and are not stated.

Who does ASME Section V apply to?

Any NDE contractor examining pressure-retaining items built or repaired to an ASME construction code — Section I power boilers, Section IV heating boilers, Section VIII pressure vessels, Section XII transport tanks, and B31.1 or B31.3 piping — plus NBIC repair work that reaches Section V through the original code of construction. It binds the shop crew, the field crew and the outsourced NDE laboratory equally. Section V never applies on its own; a referencing Code Section invokes it.

Can an outsourced Level III sign for ASME Section V compliance?

Yes. ASME Section V accepts employer-based certification, which places the obligation on the employer and allows a contracted Level III to write and sign the written practice, approve procedures and administer examinations. The Level III must be qualified in each method they sign for, and the employer still owns the records.

What documents does a ASME Section V audit ask for?

NDE written practice for the qualification and certification of NDE personnel, Written NDE procedure for each method and technique, with the record of the demonstration witnessed by the Authorized Inspector (Article 1, T-150), Level III approval signature on each NDE procedure and each revision, NDE personnel certification records containing the items required by Article 1, T-190, Annual near-vision and colour-contrast differentiation eye examination records for examiners. Auditors open records before they open manuals, because a manual describes intent while records show practice. The most common failure is a documented system that does not match what the technicians actually do.

How often is ASME Section V renewed?

No certificate and no expiry — Section V is a code, not an accreditation. ASME publishes BPVC editions on a two-year cycle; the 2025 edition follows 2023 and 2021. Written practices and procedures must be re-reviewed against the edition the referencing Code Section and the adopting jurisdiction have accepted, since the Code-accepted editions of SNT-TC-1A, CP-189 and ACCP change between BPVC editions. Personnel recertification intervals are set by the employer's own written practice, not by Section V. Firms that diarise renewal from the certificate date rather than from the last audit avoid the lapse that forces a full reapplication.

What are the most common ASME Section V findings?

NDE procedure written to an older edition than the one the referencing Code Section adopts, No record of the procedure demonstration the Authorized Inspector is entitled to witness under Article 1, T-150, Personnel certification records missing one or more of the contents required by Article 1, T-190, Subcontracted Level III used with no documented acceptance on file naming him as the Certificate Holder's Level III examiner. These recur because they are records problems rather than capability problems — the work is being done correctly and the evidence is not being kept.

Which NDT methods does ASME Section V cover?

RT, UT, PT, MT, VT, ET, LT, AE. Each method in scope needs its own approved procedure and personnel qualified in that specific method; a Level III qualified in ultrasonics cannot sign for radiography.

Related: the ASME Section V overview, outsourced ASNT Level III cover, written practice development, NDT procedure development, a programme gap assessment, interim Level III cover.