Well,on to the good about welder certs.If you are building something that requires welding be done to a certain quality level,[which would be about anything I guess,and they got codes for everything,they got one for earth moving equipement I know,,not sure about trailers though,wouldn't be surprised if they didn't,but a company might not use it if not forced to by client,person buying whatever],,,anyways if you plan on making a bridge,power plant,refinorey,chemical plant,pipeline,,,that you are going to have to hire many welders,,you got to have something,someway,of making sure these guys can make welds to your min. requirements,,and thats how welding codes,procedures,and codes and specs came about,and for the most part it works pretty good.
For instance,if you are making a power plant or repairs on a power plant,government and states make you do it to certain codes,,so,you ain't got no choice in the united states,these codes tell you the min. requirements,,and they all say how your welders will be tested,,and how their welds will be tested after you certify them,,,than on top of that you have insurance companys,they have representatives there to make sure you do it that way,the states and federal government do to,,,so what I'm saying is,generally speaking now a days,,your average person who knows nothing about these things can pretty much rest assured that about all that could be done to make that pipline,power plant,refinoray,chemical plant,railroad,papermill,bridge,etc,safe was done,,,,accidents happen,,nothing is exact,,but for MOST things concerning this,,about all that can be done is being done,,generally speaking,,yeah,there are crooks in every profession,and sometimes I've seen things that were accepted that if I was king,would not have been,but it works pretty good,,,when the last time any one heard of a bridge falling down or a power plant blowing up or a sky scraper falling down on its own because of bad welds? Things wear out,and there are systems in place to even make this part,pretty much a non issue,,but all things are made by us humans and that means **** happens,,,
The most unsafe things are the little things,,they are sometimes over looked,,trailers might be one,,but like I said,I bet there is a code or spec that covers them,,,[just have never worked to it myself,the american welding society of miami fl. has codes on about every thing,they got a web site,somebody could look it up,,and I bet states and federal government address it somewhere],,but the little things sometimes get ignored because the powers are mainly concerned with the bigger things.
I'm not saying welder certifications are worthless,far from it,,what I'm saying is unless you know that that certification was done correctly and honestly and it applys to what the welder is now welding,etc,,,the fact that a guy is certified or a company says he is certified might not mean what your average person thinks it does,,,there is probably 1,001 different ways,[postions,processes,tests,consumables],that you can test a welder,,generally speakin,a pipe welder is your most skilled welders,,but even than there are so many different processs and materials,that one guy just can't have experience in all to the degree possible to make him really good on every thing.A good pipe welder will be making over 30 an hour,,sometimes well over,,,a good trailer welder/wire burner would be lucky to make 15 bucks an hour and that would be at a big shop,probably 80 percent of those type "welders" don't make much over min. wage,,so,,they ain't real concerned,,,thingy
