Level 3 Pipe Welder Apprenticeship Standard

This occupation is found in a wide range of sectors where piping systems are used for fluid transport and pressure containment. This will include Engineering Construction, Maintenance and Project upgrades, Oil & Gas (upstream extraction, bulk fluid transport & distribution, downstream processing), Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals (manufacturing and process plant); Power Generation (Thermal, Biomass & Nuclear); Food, Dairy & Brewery Process plant and equipment; Water and Water treatment (processing, bulk transport & distribution and remediation); and Fuel & Coolant systems for Transport Vehicles (Aerospace, Marine, Road & Rail systems). Employers range in size from small businesses to multi- national organisations.

The broad purpose of the occupation is to manually weld tubes and pipes to high standards of quality and integrity using a minimum of two manual arc welding processes from Tungsten Inert Gas (TIG), Plasma Arc Welding (PAW), Manual Metal Arc (MMA), Metal Inert Gas (MIG)/Metal Active Gas (MAG) and Flux Cored Arc Welding (FCAW). The occupation requires the pipe welding of a minimum of four material groups from Carbon Steel, Low Alloy Steel, High Alloy Ferritic/Martensitic Steel, Austenitic Stainless Steel, Nickel & Nickel Alloys, Aluminium & Aluminium alloys, Titanium & Titanium Alloys, Copper & Copper Alloys.
Pipe welders must use all welding positions and 3 main joint configurations from Single Sided Butt, Socket, Flange and Set-on Branch welds. For example, a pipe welder might use Tungsten Inert Gas (TIG) and Manual Metal Arc (MMA) to join Carbon Steel, Low Alloy Steel, Austenitic Stainless Steel and Nickel Alloy materials. Each welding process requiring significantly different welding equipment, assemblies, controls, skills and techniques, and represents an individual production process.

The knowledge, skills and behaviours for this role will be developed over the duration of the apprenticeship.
Maths and English will be embedded within the apprenticeship.