TSASK Audit Preparation for Inspection Companies
A TSASK audit runs in 6 stages, beginning with submit the application for a quality program review together with one controlled.. Technical Safety Authority of Saskatchewan (TSASK), administering The Boiler and Pressure Vessel Act and The Boiler and Pressure Vessel Regulations, with oversight from the Saskatchewan Boiler and Pressure Vessel Safety Board tests the system by sampling finished work backwards to the records behind it, so preparation means.
Saskatchewan's Quality Management System of Inspections is voluntary but commercially decisive: it is what lets a company lengthen inspection intervals, remove start-up delays on newly installed equipment and extend PSV service intervals. Three authorization classes exist under Regulation 83(1) — Class A covering periodic inspections, repairs and alterations and acceptance inspections of new piping including boilers, Class B the same without boilers, and Class C for insurers inspecting equipment they insure. Every inspection carried out under an approved QMS must be done by a Licensed Pressure Equipment Inspector whose licence authorizes that inspection, and the holder must designate and employ one. Separately, contractors need a Certificate of Authorization built on a quality control manual. What separates firms that clear an audit from firms that collect findings is not the quality of the documentation but whether it describes what actually happens.
Source: TSASK Saskatchewan Quality Management System of Inspections, document IP-2011-01-01, including the Class A/B/C authorizations under Saskatchewan Regulation 83(1); TSASK Guide for Quality Control Program Requirements, document IP-2008-07-04, revision September 2017; TSASK Quality Management Systems, Pressure Equipment Inspector licensing and Design Registration pages; The Boiler and Pressure Vessel Act and The Boiler and Pressure Vessel Regulations. Verified on tsask.ca on 2026-08-21.
| Stage | What happens | What it tests |
|---|---|---|
| Stage 1 | Submit the Application for a Quality Program Review together with one controlled copy of the QMS manual to TSASK. | Where the paperwork is tested against itself |
| Stage 2 | TSASK conducts the manual review phase against the applicable requirements and the Chief Inspector approves the manual. | Where the paperwork is tested against practice |
| Stage 3 | Complete the implementation audit within six months of approval; if the audit is not completed within six months a new. | Where the paperwork is tested against practice |
| Stage 4 | TSASK issues the Certificate of Authorization, which must then be reproduced in facsimile inside the manual showing the current physical. | Where the paperwork is tested against practice |
| Stage 5 | Submit the Letter of Implementation, then maintain the four mandatory reporting streams: May and November inspection reports, pressure equipment inventory. | Where the paperwork is tested against practice |
| Stage 6 | Request the renewal application at least 120 days before the certificate expiry date, and apply for an interim extension if. | Where the paperwork is tested against practice |
| Renewal | Renewal applications must be requested at least 120 days before the certificate expiry date. Applications submitted closer to expiration may require an interim extension application to maintain compliance while the renewal audit is under way. A separate timing rule applies at first certification: the implementation audit must be completed within six months of manual approval or a new application and payment are required. TSASK did not publish a fixed certificate term in the material reviewed, so confirm the term on the certificate itself. | Diarised from the certificate date, not the last audit |
How long does TSASK audit preparation take?
Document work — the written practice, procedures and quality manual — takes weeks. What cannot be compressed is documented experience and records history: on-the-job hours accrue in real time, and calibration and certification history cannot be back-filled. Firms that start when the audit is scheduled rather than announced clear it without findings.
What does Technical Safety Authority of Saskatchewan (TSASK), administering The Boiler and Pressure Vessel Act and The Boiler and Pressure Vessel Regulations, with oversight from the Saskatchewan Boiler and Pressure Vessel Safety Board look at first?
Records, not manuals. A manual states intent; records show practice. The usual opening move is to take a completed job and trace it back to the technician's certification, the instrument's calibration, the approved procedure and the report — and see whether all four reconcile.
What are the most common TSASK findings?
NDE personnel holding only employer-issued SNT-TC-1A certification, where the TSASK quality control program guide requires certification in accordance with CGSB., Missing annual vision and colour differentiation test records for NDE personnel., Inspections carried out under the approved QMS by a person whose Licensed Pressure Equipment Inspector licence does not authorize that class of inspection, for example Class 2 covering only pressure vessels and associated piping being used on boiler work., Designated Pressure Equipment Inspector acting without the TSASK Certificate of Qualification required in addition to the LPEI licence.. Almost all of them are evidence problems rather than capability problems: the work was done correctly and the proof was not kept, or was kept somewhere the firm could not retrieve during the audit.
Can a consultant attend the TSASK audit?
Yes, and it changes the outcome. Someone who has sat through the same audit at other firms answers in the auditor's own terms, produces the right record without a search, and stops a clarification turning into a finding. The firm still owns every answer — the consultant does not speak for it.
What happens after a TSASK finding?
A corrective action with a deadline, and evidence of closure at the next audit. Repeat findings are treated far more seriously than first ones, because they show the corrective-action system itself is not working.
Does TSASK require a pre-audit or gap assessment?
Not as a requirement, but the arithmetic favours it: a gap assessment finds the same evidence problems the auditor would, without the finding attached, and while there is still time to fix them. Firms entering their first TSASK audit blind typically collect findings that a sampling exercise would have caught.
What the auditor asks to see
- Application for a Quality Program Review
- One controlled copy of the QMS manual covering design, construction, installation, operation, alteration, repairs, inspections and decommissioning information
- Quality control manual per guide IP-2008-07-04, with title page, Certificate of Authorization facsimile, statement of authority, organization charts, and sections on drawings and designs, material control, examination and inspection, nonconformity, welding, NDE, heat treatment, calibration, record retention and sample forms
- CGSB certification records for NDE personnel, plus annual vision and colour differentiation test results
- Licensed Pressure Equipment Inspector licences and the Certificate of Qualification for the Designated Pressure Equipment Inspector
- Welding procedure specifications and PQRs conforming to ASME Section IX, registered with the jurisdiction before use
- Pressure Equipment Status Report and the QMS Inspection Reporting spreadsheet
- Letter of Implementation and the semi-annual May and November inspection reports
- Pressure Equipment Inventory Updates and written notification to the Chief Inspector of any change of designated inspector
- Design submissions through the Design Submission Portal, with forms TSK-1003 and TSK-1009 as applicable
Findings to close before the audit
- NDE personnel holding only employer-issued SNT-TC-1A certification, where the TSASK quality control program guide requires certification in accordance with CGSB.
- Missing annual vision and colour differentiation test records for NDE personnel.
- Inspections carried out under the approved QMS by a person whose Licensed Pressure Equipment Inspector licence does not authorize that class of inspection, for example Class 2 covering only pressure vessels and associated piping being used on boiler work.
- Designated Pressure Equipment Inspector acting without the TSASK Certificate of Qualification required in addition to the LPEI licence.
- Implementation audit not completed within six months of manual approval, voiding the application.
- Certificate of Authorization facsimile in the manual showing an out-of-date physical address or a scope that does not match the title page.
- Welding procedures not registered with the jurisdiction before use, or welder qualification attempted on production welds rather than a registered WPS test.
- Renewal requested inside the 120-day window, leaving the certificate to lapse while the renewal audit is scheduled.
- Inspection company serving an approved owner or insurer QMS without having registered with TSASK in its own right.
Related: the TSASK overview, outsourced ASNT Level III cover, written practice development, NDT procedure development, a programme gap assessment, interim Level III cover.