EN ISO 3834 deals with quality requirements in welding and has been prepared in order to identify the necessary controls and procedures. ISO 3834 is not a quality system standard intended to take the place of ISO 9001, but a useful, additional tool for use when ISO 9001 is applied by manufacturers.
EN ISO 3834 is intended for the fusion welding of metallic materials, and its application is independent of the products manufactured. However, its principles and many of its detailed requirements are also relevant for other welding and welding-related processes.
One of the aims of EN ISO 3834 is to define requirements in the field of welding so that contracting parties or regulators do not have to do this themselves. A reference to a particular part of EN ISO 3834 should be sufficient to demonstrate the capabilities of the manufacturer to control welding activities for the type of work being done.
The standard defines quality requirements for welding both in workshops and on site, and is appropriate when demonstration of a manufacturer’s capability to produce welded construction in accordance with specified criteria is required; it can also be used as the basis for assessing a manufacturer’s welding quality arrangements.
The properties of welded products cannot be confirmed by testing alone, assurance is gained by controlling the production process. If the welding production processes are controlled in accordance with EN ISO 3834 it is recognised that the quality of the welds in the final product will meet the specified criteria.
Welding is a special process and the evaluation of all the welding related activities and welding process operations implemented by the manufacturer to achieve the required welding quality, requires particular expertise of the assessment team.