Records Retention Schedule for NR-13

NR-13 names this requirement as "Prontuário da caldeira / prontuário do vaso de pressão — manufacturer's data book, including construction code and edition, material specification, PMTA methodology, fabrication hydrostatic test records,.". The QA manager owns it, alongside the certification scheme rather than replacing it.

The finding auditors record against this document is: Consolidated inspection report signed by an NDT Level III or a senior technician rather than by a PLH — the report content lists require the PLH's legible name, signature and professional-council registration number. NR-13 places the legal duty on the employer, not the contractor, and that shapes how inspection service providers sell into Brazil. Every safety inspection must be executed under the technical responsibility of a Profissional Legalmente Habilitado (PLH) — item 13.3.3. Selection of examinations and tests, hydrostatic and pneumatic test procedures, interval extensions and the consolidated report all rest on that PLH's technical judgement, and the report must carry the PLH's legible name, signature and professional-council registration number. A provider supplying only NDT technicians cannot sign; it must employ a Brazil-registered engineer or work under the client's PLH. Metallic storage tanks entered scope on 4 July 2026, opening a substantial new inspection market.

Source: NR-13 consolidated text published by the Ministério do Trabalho e Emprego on gov.br (file nr-13-atualizada-2023-b.pdf), extracted and read directly. Current wording given by Portaria nº 1.846 of 1 July 2022 (DOU 4 July 2022) — cited within the norm's own publication table as Portaria MTP nº 1.846 and in the body text as Portaria MTb nº 1.846 — amended by Portaria MTP nº 4.219 of 20 December 2022 (DOU 22 December 2022), with rectifications dated 20 October 2022. Parent instrument Portaria MTb nº 3.214 of 8 June 1978 (DOU 6 July 1978). Storage-tank scope commencement of 4 July 2026 from the note to item 13.2.1 f citing art. 3 of Portaria MTP nº 1.846/22; piping scope commencement of 20 March 2018 from the note to item 13.6.2.1 citing art. 6. Verified 21 August 2026.

What must a records retention schedule contain under NR-13?

It has to satisfy NR-13 as Ministério do Trabalho e Emprego (MTE), which publishes the Normas Regulamentadoras; enforced on site by Auditores-Fiscais do Trabalho 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 NR-13?

The QA manager. This regime requires central or third-party certification, so the signature works alongside the scheme rather than substituting for it.

How does a NR-13 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 NR-13 records be kept?

Boilers, periodic internal and external examination (item 13.4.4.4): maximum 12 months for categories A and B; 18 months for alkali recovery boilers of any category; 24 months for category A provided safety valve opening pressures are tested at 12 months; 30 months for category B with a combustion management system meeting Annex IV. Establishments holding a certified SPIE may extend to 24 months (alkali recovery and category B), 30 months (category A) and 48 months (category A with a Safety Instrumented System meeting Annex IV). Pressure vessels follow Table 2 by category I to V — external examination at 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 years and internal at 3, 4, 6, 8 and 10 years; with a certified SPIE, external at 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 years and internal at 6, 8, 10 and 12 years, with category V internal at technical criterion. A certified SPIE using a documented risk-based methodology may extend further, capped at 10 years for internal examination of category I vessels. Piping follows the internal interval of the most critical connected vessel or boiler and may be doubled on the PLH's technical justification, capped at 10 years. Boilers reaching 25 years of use undergo a broader integrity assessment at the following inspection. Postponement of up to six months is possible with a risk assessment coordinated by a PLH, and must be formally justified to the predominant workers' union. 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 NR-13?

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 NR-13 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: Consolidated inspection report signed by an NDT Level III or a senior technician rather than by a PLH — the report content lists require the PLH's legible name, signature and professional-council registration number

Related: the NR-13 overview, outsourced ASNT Level III cover, written practice development, NDT procedure development, a programme gap assessment, interim Level III cover.