Most safety professionals are well aware of the many medical evaluations required by OSHA standards, such as those for workers wearing respirators, emergency responders, etc. But we also have a medical evaluation requirement in Process Safety Management that plays a critical role in our piping Quality Assurance (QA) program.
When using either ASME B31.3 or B31.5 to design, erect, examine, pressure test, and leak test our piping, there is a specific medical requirement in these standards for the personnel who will perform the “weld examinations” using the “Visual Examination” technique.
Can you guess what this might be?
If you said an “eye exam,” you would be correct!
(emphasis by me)
ASME BPVC, Section V, Article 9 T-923 PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS PERSONNEL SHALL HAVE AN ANNUAL VISION TEST to assure natural or corrected near distance acuity such that they are capable of reading standard J-1 letters on standard Jaeger test type charts for near vision. Equivalent near-vision tests are acceptable. |
I mean, if we really get down to the fine-tuning of our QA efforts in visually examining welds, one could only conclude that the examiners eye-sight will play a critical role in their ability to perform these examinations.
But you would be surprised to learn, that nearly ALL pipe installers/contractors who use “internal examiners” will fail this QA requirement.