Equipment Calibration Records for Part 192
Part 192 names this requirement as "Evidence that each technician has been trained and qualified in the established procedures and with the equipment employed in testing — §192.243(b)(2)". The equipment custodian owns it, and a contracted Level III can author and sign it.
The finding auditors record against this document is: Technician holds an SNT-TC-1A certificate but has no record of training on the specific written procedure and the specific equipment, which is what §192.243(b)(2) actually requires. Part 192 writes your job description even though it regulates the operator. Section 192.243 requires nondestructive testing of welds to be performed in accordance with written procedures and by persons who have been trained and qualified in the established procedures and with the equipment employed in testing — that is the entire personnel requirement, and it names no certification scheme. Separate interpretation procedures must be established for each test. Weld acceptability is judged under 192.241(c) against section 9 or Appendix A of API Std 1104, and Appendix A may not be used to accept cracks.
Source: 49 CFR Part 192 as published in the eCFR, text current to 1 August 2026, cross-checked against the 2024 annual CFR edition on govinfo.gov. Verified verbatim: §192.7, which incorporates API Standard 1104, Welding of Pipelines and Related Facilities, 21st edition, September 2013, including Errata 1 through 5 (April 2014 through September 2018), Addendum 1 (2014) and Addendum 2 (2016), IBR approved for §§192.225(a), 192.227(a), 192.229(b) and (c), 192.241(c) and Appendix B to Part 192 — and which incorporates ASME BPVC Section IX, 2007 edition, but NOT ASME Section V, so Section V is not a federal requirement for Part 192 pipeline NDT; §192.227(a) welder qualification routes and (c) five-year record retention for steel transmission pipe installed after 1 July 2021; §192.241(b) the 20 percent SMYS trigger and the visual-inspection exceptions, and (c) acceptability under section 9 or Appendix A of API Std 1104 with Appendix A barred from accepting cracks; §192.243(a) through (f) in full, including the Class 1 at least 10 percent, Class 2 at least 15 percent, Class 3 and 4 plus major or navigable river crossings, offshore and railroad or public highway rights-of-way including tunnels, bridges and overhead road crossings at 100 percent unless impracticable in which case at least 90 percent, and tie-ins at 100 percent; §192.245(a) removal of a weld with a crack more than 8 percent of the weld length; §192.801 the four-part covered-task test; §192.805(a) through (i); and §192.807(a) and (b). Accessed 21 August 2026.
| Item | What applies | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Regime | Transportation of Natural and Other Gas by Pipeline: Minimum Federal Safety Standards, 49 CFR Part 192 | Enforced by Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), Office of Pipeline Safety, US Department of Transportation; state agencies certified under 49 U.S.C. Chapter 601 inspect intrastate pipelines |
| Document | Equipment Calibration Records | the traceable evidence that every instrument was in calibration on the day it was used |
| Owner | the equipment custodian | The signature an auditor traces back |
| Where it is checked | Records compiled by milepost, engineering station or geographic feature and handed to the operator, who must retain them. | Usually against a sampled job, not in isolation |
| Common failure | Nondestructive testing procedure written to the API 1104 22nd edition when the federally enforceable edition remains the 21st | The gap between the manual and the job file |
What must a equipment calibration records contain under Part 192?
It has to satisfy Part 192 as Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), Office of Pipeline Safety, US Department of Transportation; state agencies certified under 49 U.S.C. Chapter 601 inspect intrastate pipelines enforces it: the traceable evidence that every instrument was in calibration on the day it was used. 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 equipment calibration records for Part 192?
The equipment custodian. 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 Part 192 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 Part 192 records be kept?
No certificate exists to renew; the obligations are continuous. Re-evaluation intervals for operator qualification are set by the operator in its own programme under §192.805(g), not by the rule, so they vary by operator and by task. Records supporting an individual's current qualification must be maintained while that individual performs the covered task; records of prior qualification and of individuals no longer performing covered tasks must be retained for five years under §192.807(b). Welder qualification records for steel transmission pipe installed after 1 July 2021 are retained a minimum of five years following construction. The nondestructive testing record itself is retained for the life of the pipeline. 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 Part 192?
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 Part 192 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: Nondestructive testing procedure written to the API 1104 22nd edition when the federally enforceable edition remains the 21st
Where this sits in the Part 192 evidence pack
- Written nondestructive testing procedures for each method and technique — §192.243(b)(1)
- Procedures for the proper interpretation of each nondestructive test of a weld — §192.243(c)
- Evidence that each technician has been trained and qualified in the established procedures and with the equipment employed in testing — §192.243(b)(2)
- Record showing, by milepost, engineering station or geographic feature, the number of girth welds made, the number nondestructively tested, the number rejected and the disposition of the rejects — §192.243(f)
- Welding procedure specifications qualified under §192.225 and welder or welding operator qualification records under §192.227
- Welder qualification records retained a minimum of five years following construction for steel transmission pipe installed after 1 July 2021 — §192.227(c)
- Weld repair procedures qualified under §192.225 — §192.245(c)
- Operator qualification records identifying the qualified individual, the covered tasks he is qualified to perform, the dates of current qualification and the qualification methods — §192.807(a)
- A controlled copy of API Std 1104, 21st edition, September 2013, including Errata 1 through 5 and Addenda 1 and 2 — the edition incorporated by reference
Personnel certification context
Neither employer-based nor central certification is mandated by the rule. Section 192.243(b)(2) requires only persons who have been trained and qualified in the established procedures and with the equipment employed in testing. In practice operators specify ASNT SNT-TC-1A Level II as their contractual acceptance criterion, and an outsourced Level III writing the written practice and certifying technicians satisfies that specification — but what is federally enforceable is procedure-specific and equipment-specific training, evidenced per technician per procedure. Separately, Subpart N operator qualification applies to covered tasks, defined as activities performed on a pipeline facility that are operations or maintenance tasks, performed as a requirement of Part 192, and that affect the operation or integrity of the pipeline. The operator identifies them, so ask which of your scope items are on the operator's covered-task list rather than assuming.
Related: the Part 192 overview, outsourced ASNT Level III cover, written practice development, NDT procedure development, a programme gap assessment, interim Level III cover.