Examination Records for CSA B51
CSA B51 names this requirement as "Quality programme manual meeting the applicable B51:24 annex — Annex N for performing new construction inspection, Annex O for organizations providing design examination services". The employer's Level III owns it, and a contracted Level III can author and sign it.
The finding auditors record against this document is: Ultrasonic shear-wave examination performed by an examiner without CGSB Level 2 in the method. CSA B51 is Canada's boiler, pressure vessel and pressure piping code. CSA B51:24 is the twentieth edition, though several jurisdictions still enforce B51:19 (R2024). The code does not certify inspection companies itself; it sets the technical and quality-programme requirements that provincial regulators then enforce through permits. For an inspection service provider the load-bearing items are the requirement that non-destructive personnel associated with the quality control system be certified to CAN/CGSB-48.9712/ISO 9712 or another standard acceptable to the regulatory authority, and the new B51:24 annexes covering quality programmes for new construction inspection, quality programmes for design examination services, audit programmes, and pressure equipment integrity management programmes.
Source: Verified August 2026 against: CSA B51:24, twentieth edition, and CSA B51:19 (R2024), per CSA Group and ANSI listings; Technical Safety BC Information Bulletin IB-BP 2024-02 for the 31 December 2024 British Columbia adoption under the PEBPVRSR and the deferred impact-testing clauses; Manitoba Inspection and Technical Services adoption directive ITS-25-002 for the 1 January 2025 adoption, the excepted clauses, and the B51:24 key-changes list including new Annexes M, N, O, P, Q, R, S and T and the Declaration of Conformity (Figure D.6) and CRN application form (Figure D.9); ABSA AB-506, Inspection and Servicing Requirements for In-Service Pressure Equipment, Edition 4 Revision 0, issued 21 October 2025, sections 7, 8 and 14 read in full; ABSA conference presentation "An ABSA Overview of Code and Regulatory Requirements for NDE", NDT in Canada 2015, which quotes CSA B51 Clause 4.11 verbatim.
| Item | What applies | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Regime | CSA B51, Boiler, pressure vessel, and pressure piping code | Enforced by CSA Group publishes the code; it is enforced by each provincial and territorial pressure equipment safety authority, including ABSA (Alberta), Technical Safety BC, TSSA (Ontario) and Manitoba Inspection and Technical Services |
| Document | Examination Records | the general, specific and practical examination papers and results behind each certification |
| Owner | the employer's Level III | The signature an auditor traces back |
| Where it is checked | Close out non-conformances, then receive the permit limited to the authorized scope. | Usually against a sampled job, not in isolation |
| Common failure | NDE examiner certification records not produced on request to the owner, the Inspector or the regulator, which AB-506 requires the examiner's employer to maintain and make available | The gap between the manual and the job file |
What must a examination records contain under CSA B51?
It has to satisfy CSA B51 as CSA Group publishes the code; it is enforced by each provincial and territorial pressure equipment safety authority, including ABSA (Alberta), Technical Safety BC, TSSA (Ontario) and Manitoba Inspection and Technical Services enforces it: the general, specific and practical examination papers and results behind each certification. 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 examination records for CSA B51?
The employer's Level III. 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 CSA B51 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 CSA B51 records be kept?
The code itself is on a roughly five-year revision cycle — B51:24 followed B51:19 — and what governs is the date the jurisdiction adopts it, not the publication date, so a firm can legitimately be working to two different editions in two provinces at the same time. Permits issued under it, such as Alberta's Certificate of Authorization Permit for an integrity assessment organization, are renewed on the interval each provincial authority sets in the permit terms; confirm that interval with the issuing authority rather than assuming a national figure. 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 CSA B51?
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 CSA B51 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: NDE examiner certification records not produced on request to the owner, the Inspector or the regulator, which AB-506 requires the examiner's employer to maintain and make available
Where this sits in the CSA B51 evidence pack
- The adopted edition of CSA B51 for each jurisdiction worked in — B51:24 or B51:19 (R2024)
- Quality programme manual meeting the applicable B51:24 annex — Annex N for performing new construction inspection, Annex O for organizations providing design examination services
- Written NDE procedures for each method in use, addressing ASME Section V and available to the Inspector
- NDE personnel certification records including dates and results of qualifications, available to the owner, the Inspector and the regulator
- Declaration of Conformity form (Figure D.6 in B51:24, which replaced the Statutory Declaration)
- Canadian Registration Number (CRN) application form (Figure D.9 in B51:24) and supporting registration documentation
- Provincial Certificate of Authorization Permit and the written authorized scope
- Audit programme documentation consistent with Annex P
- Integrity management programme documentation consistent with Annex Q where in-service work is performed
Personnel certification context
Mixed, and the mix is the commercial opening. B51 points NDE personnel at CAN/CGSB-48.9712/ISO 9712 "or other standards acceptable to the regulatory authority" — the wording ABSA quotes from Clause 4.11. On the ASME new-construction side an employer written practice to SNT-TC-1A or CP-189 governs, so an outsourced Level III can own and sign that written practice. On the in-service side, Alberta's AB-506 permits SNT-TC-1A Level II where the owner accepts it, but requires CGSB Level 2 for ultrasonic shear wave. Confirm the clause number against your adopted edition: B51:24 renumbered material when Part 3 was folded in.
Related: the CSA B51 overview, outsourced ASNT Level III cover, written practice development, NDT procedure development, a programme gap assessment, interim Level III cover.