{"slug":"/consulting/project-specific-ndt-procedures","title":"Project-Specific NDT Procedures for Codes and Client Specs","description":"NDT procedures and technique sheets written to one project's code edition and client specification, from ASME Section V to AWS D1.1 and API 1104.","h1":"Procedures written for the contract in front of you","answer":"A project-specific NDT procedure adapts your general procedure to one contract: the code and edition the contract names, the client's specification, and the materials, thicknesses, joint geometries and acceptance criteria of that job. A Level III in the method approves it, it cites the general procedure it derives from, and the client often reviews it before mobilization.","expansion":"A general procedure covers a method across the range of work a company normally does. A contract narrows it and sometimes contradicts it. A pressure vessel job pulls in the edition of ASME Section V that the construction code references, with acceptance criteria taken from the construction code rather than from Section V. Structural steel under AWS D1.1 brings that code's own inspection clause, examination technique and acceptance criteria. Pipeline girth welds under API 1104 put the company, meaning the owner or operator, in charge of which personnel certification it accepts. Above the code sits the client specification, adding coverage, reporting, scanning or acceptance requirements of its own. Atlantis reads the contract documents, writes a clause-by-clause compliance matrix, drafts the project procedure or supplement and its technique sheets, and has them approved by an ASNT NDT Level III within UT, RT, MT, PT and VT, or prepared for approval by the client's Level III.","source":"ASME BPVC Section V, method articles and their written-procedure requirements; AWS D1.1/D1.1M Structural Welding Code — Steel, inspection clause; API Standard 1104, nondestructive testing section; ASNT SNT-TC-1A (2024, with Addendum), Level III responsibilities; client specifications invoked by contract.","table":{"caption":"General procedure, project procedure or technique sheet: which document a change belongs in","columns":["Document","Scope","What sends you to it","Approved by","Client review"],"rows":[["General procedure","One method across the company's usual codes, materials and thickness ranges","A new method, a new code family, or a change to a requirement the code treats as essential","Company Level III in the method","At prequalification or on request"],["Project-specific procedure","One method on one contract, quoting that contract's code edition and specification clauses","A code edition, acceptance criterion or technique that differs from the general procedure","Level III in the method; client acceptance where the contract requires","Normally before work starts"],["Procedure supplement","Additions to the general procedure for one client, without restating it","The client specification adds reporting, coverage or documentation detail only","Level III in the method","Submitted with the compliance matrix"],["Technique sheet or scan plan","One weld, component or geometry under an approved procedure","A specific joint, thickness, probe, film or exposure arrangement","Level II or III, as the written practice allows","Common for encoded and computerized techniques"],["Compliance matrix","Clause-by-clause map from the client specification to procedure paragraphs","Every client specification","Procedure author; checked by the Level III","Submitted with the procedure"]],"note":"Whether a Level II may approve a technique sheet is a written-practice decision, and a code or client specification can take that permission away."},"facets":[{"q":"When does a project need its own NDT procedure?","a":"When the contract changes something the general procedure fixes: the code or its edition, the acceptance criteria, the technique, the material or thickness range, or the reporting the client requires. Small additions that change nothing technical fit in a supplement. Anything that changes how the examination is performed or judged belongs in a project procedure the client can review as a whole."},{"q":"How does a project procedure relate to the general procedure?","a":"It should cite the general procedure and revision it derives from and state what it changes, so a reviewer can see the difference rather than rereading everything. When the general procedure is revised, project procedures derived from it need checking. A register linking the two prevents a project running on a procedure whose parent has moved on."},{"q":"Which edition of ASME Section V applies to a project?","a":"The edition the construction code and the contract invoke, which is not always the newest. Section V supplies the examination methods; the construction code supplies the acceptance criteria and says which Section V requirements apply. A project procedure should state the edition it was written to and the construction code paragraph that sends the work to Section V."},{"q":"What changes when the job is under AWS D1.1?","a":"D1.1 is self-contained in ways ASME work is not. Its inspection clause sets the ultrasonic technique and acceptance criteria inside the code, and alternative techniques need the qualification route the code provides. A procedure written for ASME work cannot simply be relabelled; it needs rewriting to D1.1's structure, terminology and acceptance tables."},{"q":"Who approves the NDT procedure on an API 1104 pipeline job?","a":"Technically, the contractor's Level III in the method. API 1104 then leaves the company, meaning the pipeline owner or operator, to decide which personnel certification it accepts, and pipeline contracts commonly require company acceptance of the NDT procedure before production welds are examined. Leave room in the project procedure for that acceptance and record it when given."},{"q":"Can one procedure serve several client specifications?","a":"Up to a point. A general procedure with a supplement and compliance matrix per client works while the clients ask for compatible things. Once two specifications conflict on technique, acceptance or reporting, separate project procedures are clearer and safer, because a technician should never have to work out from a matrix which rule applies to today's weld."}],"sections":[{"heading":"What a contract changes that a general procedure cannot absorb","paragraphs":["General procedures are deliberately broad. They cover the codes a company works to most often, a range of materials and thicknesses, and the techniques it normally uses. That breadth is a strength in the office and a weakness on a contract, because a client reviewing a broad procedure has to work out which parts apply to their job. Where the contract names a code edition the general procedure does not cite, a narrower thickness range, a different calibration reflector or its own acceptance criteria, the procedure no longer describes the work.","The question to ask of every contract is simple: would a technician following our general procedure, and nothing else, do this job the way the contract requires? If answering it means reading the client specification alongside the procedure, the procedure needs project content. Leaving the technician to reconcile two documents in the field is how jobs end up examined to the wrong criteria."]},{"heading":"Reading the code chain into the procedure","paragraphs":["Most NDT on code work is reached through a chain. A construction code, such as an ASME pressure vessel or piping code, sends examinations to ASME Section V for the method and keeps the acceptance criteria for itself. The contract may then name the code edition. The project procedure has to follow the chain exactly: the Section V edition the construction code references, the method article's written-procedure requirements, and the construction code's acceptance criteria quoted or referenced precisely.","Other codes are built differently. AWS D1.1 holds its examination technique and acceptance criteria within its own inspection clause. API 1104 sets requirements for pipeline girth weld examination and leaves several decisions to the company. A procedure family that serves all three needs a project document per code family rather than one document trying to cite all of them, because a technician cannot apply ASME and D1.1 acceptance criteria to the same weld."]},{"heading":"The compliance matrix: turning a client specification into procedure paragraphs","paragraphs":["Client specifications are written to be read by many contractors and are rarely organised around any one contractor's procedure. The compliance matrix bridges that: one row per specification clause, quoting the requirement, citing the procedure paragraph that meets it, and marking anything not met with its resolution. Submitted with the project procedure, it lets the client's reviewer check compliance far faster than reading the procedure cold, and it shows the contractor read the specification rather than skimmed it.","Where the client's specification conflicts with the governing code, the matrix is where the conflict is raised, not buried. Some conflicts resolve because the client's requirement is stricter and can simply be met. Others need the client to decide in writing which requirement governs. When the difference lies between two whole programmes rather than between a specification and a procedure, a [bridging document](/consulting/ndt-bridging-documents) is the better vehicle."]},{"heading":"Technique sheets and scan plans for the job","paragraphs":["A project procedure sets the rules; technique sheets apply them to specific welds and components. For radiography that means source or tube, film or detector, exposure arrangement, image quality indicator placement and coverage. For ultrasonics it means probes, angles, wedges, calibration reflectors, scan surfaces and coverage, and for encoded techniques a scan plan showing beam coverage across the weld volume. Each sheet should name the procedure and revision it sits under.","Technique sheets are where project detail belongs when it changes from joint to joint, so the procedure itself stays readable. They should be prepared from the project drawings and weld maps before mobilization, reviewed against the procedure and the client specification, and approved at the level the written practice requires. Where a client asks for encoded data or a demonstration of coverage, the scan plan is frequently the document it examines most closely."]},{"heading":"Approval and client acceptance","paragraphs":["SNT-TC-1A places the establishment and approval of techniques and procedures with the Level III, so the project procedure carries the approval of a Level III in the method. On many contracts it then goes to the client, or the client's third-party inspector, for acceptance before production work starts, and that acceptance becomes a hold point in the inspection and test plan. The procedure should record both approvals, with names, roles, dates and the revision approved.","Atlantis's ASNT NDT Level III approves project procedures in UT, RT, MT, PT and VT, including phased array and TOFD as ultrasonic techniques. Where the project calls for qualification by demonstration rather than approval alone, the procedure needs a qualification record as well; our page on [procedure qualification by demonstration](/consulting/ndt-procedure-qualification-demonstration) covers that route. For other methods we draft for approval by a Level III certified in them."]},{"heading":"Keeping project procedures from drifting","paragraphs":["Project procedures change during jobs. A client query, a field condition or an equipment substitution prompts a revision, and the revision needs the same approvals as the original, plus a note of which examinations were performed to which revision. Field markups on a controlled copy are not revisions. A short revision log inside the procedure, and a rule that superseded copies leave site, stop two versions being used on the same shift.","When the job closes, the project procedure should be archived with the job records and read once more for what it taught. A clarification that improved the project procedure often belongs in the general procedure too, and a client requirement that keeps recurring is a sign the general procedure should absorb it. Our [technical procedure development](/consulting/ndt-technical-procedure-development) work covers that feedback into the general set."]},{"heading":"What Atlantis delivers on project procedures","paragraphs":["From the contract, client specification, drawings and your general procedure, we produce the project procedure or supplement, the compliance matrix, technique sheets or scan plans for the joints in scope, and a short list of clarifications the client needs to answer before approval. Technical content is reviewed and approved by an ASNT NDT Level III within the five methods held, and documents are issued under your numbering and document control.","The best time to call is when the contract arrives, before the procedure becomes the hold point delaying mobilization. [Send the specification for a quote](/contact?service=consulting&subject=Project%20procedure) and we will tell you whether the job needs a full project procedure, a supplement or only technique sheets."]}],"faq":[{"q":"The client sent us their own procedure. Do we still need ours?","a":"Usually, unless the contract says the client's procedure governs and your written practice allows your technicians to work to it. Even then, check it against your equipment and personnel, and document that your Level III has reviewed it. Where it conflicts with your own procedures, record which one governs and why."},{"q":"Can we reuse a project procedure on the next contract?","a":"Only after checking it against the new contract's code edition, specification and scope. Reuse without that check carries the old client's requirements into a job they do not belong to. If two contracts keep needing the same content, that content probably belongs in the general procedure."},{"q":"Do you write procedures for phased array and TOFD?","a":"Yes, as ultrasonic techniques, with scan plans showing coverage. Approval is by our ASNT NDT Level III in UT. Where a code or client requires the technique to be qualified by demonstration, we scope the demonstration and the qualification record alongside the procedure."},{"q":"What do you need to start a project procedure?","a":"The contract scope, the client specification and any standards it references, the code and edition, drawings or weld maps, your general procedure and the equipment you plan to use. With those we write the compliance matrix first, which shows quickly how much project content the job needs."}]}