57
Through Optimum Use and Innovation of Welding and Joining Technologies
Improving Global Quality of Life
6
Needs and challenges in health, safety, education, training, qualification and certification
On Tuesday 15 Aug 2006, the Wall Street Journal published an article:
Where have all the welders gone, as manufacturing and repair boom? Quoting from it; “Welding, a dirty and
dangerous job, has fallen out of favour over the past two decades, as young skilled labourers pursue cleaner,
safer and less physically demanding work. Now, thanks to global boom in industrial manufacturing, skilled
welders are in greater demand than ever. Companies can’t find enough of them.” and also “The average age
of welders, currently 54, keeps climbing. As a wave of retirements loom, welding schools and on-site training
programmes aren’t pumping out replacements fast enough
.”
One commentator stated “We need welders like a starving person needs food…”
The American Welding Society had correctly predicted that by 2010 demand for skilled welders would
outstrip supply by 200,000 in the US alone.
At first glance this might appear to be totally irrelevant to anybody outside the US, but with a bit of
experience of welding operations, one realises that a similar scenario has already unfolded on a worldwide
scale. The underlying causes may be different to that of the US, but the potential negative affect is just as
devastating. Every single day on construction sites the implications of the declining pool of skilled artisan
welders manifests itself. Repair rates on high pressure and high temperature plant completed weldments
as high as 50% on some components prove not to be uncommon any more. Repairing unacceptable weld
defects is notoriously expensive due to many factors such as negatively impacting on planned schedules,
as well as metallurgical issues. Although the manpower to repair the defects is usually for the contractor’s
account, this can be insignificant when compared for instance to the potential loss in production costs on
the client’s plant.
One might argue that plant owners should not be concerned with where resources for maintenance and
erection projects come from, as long as the required contract work is completed on-time to appropriate
quality levels while the market forces in a global economy takes its course. The reality, however, is that
top welders will be lured to perform relatively easy welding jobs at a very competitive remuneration, as
compared to the demanding weldments required, for instance boiler and pressure vessel work, with respect
to skill and quality requirements. Not only will this put tremendous strain on finding enough welders for
the ongoing world-wide expansion programme of power generation and petrochemical facilities, but also
those available will provide their services at great premium prices. This will inadvertently lead to cheaper
replacements brought in from other countries, that is if the booming global utility market will allow it with
current large expansions projects that are planned for China, Europe and the USA looming.
The solution seems to be fairly simple and obvious. End-user companies need to realise their obligation to
embark on an urgent concerted effort to establish an artisan welder training programme, using a country’s
own resources and existing facilities. With the necessary funds invested in a bursary scheme coupled to
some form of tax relief to the company, groups of fully trained artisan welders can be presented to the
industry every two year cycle. Remuneration packages would need to be constituted attractively enough in
order to attract promising young students to the welding industry, with sufficient long term job prospects to
aspire to, while participating in the effort to steady the ship so to speak. Market forces will dictate and some
of the successful candidates will inadvertently leave the employer but one can be sure that a significant
proportion will take up permanent positions within organisations.
6.4
Communication and information technologies
6.4.1
Training, education, qualification and certification
Training, education, qualification and certification are issues on which the future of industry is dependent. In
fact, a look through the publications and newspapers, which reflect informed opinion, will confirm that there
