GUIDE

Pipe Fabricators and Welders: Testing, Tickets and Crew Supply

Insights/Pipe Fabricators and Welders: Testing, Tickets and Crew Supply

16 October 2026

A welder is only qualified for the procedure, position and material they were tested on. What that means when you request a crew, and what to put in the request.

Welding is the one trade where a job title tells you almost nothing. A welder is qualified against a specific procedure, in a specific position, on a specific material and thickness range. Two workers with the same title can be entirely suitable and entirely unsuitable for the same joint. Any request that says only "welders" is asking the supplier to guess.

Qualification Is Narrow by Design

Welder qualification is tied to a Welding Procedure Specification: the process, the material group, the thickness range, the joint type and the position. A welder tested flat is not thereby qualified overhead. One qualified on carbon steel is not qualified on stainless. This is not bureaucracy — it is why welding can be relied on without inspecting every joint destructively.

What to Put in the Request

Name the process, the material and the positions. If your project has an approved Welding Procedure Specification, send it; it answers every question at once. Say whether joints will be radiographed or otherwise tested and at what rate, because a crew working to a high inspection rate needs to be selected differently from one that is not. And say whether the work is shop or site, because position and access change with it.

Fabricators Are a Separate Trade

A fabricator marks out, cuts, prepares edges, rolls and forms, and presents the joint. A welder joins it. Weld quality depends heavily on the preparation it was given, which is why a crew heavy on welders and short on fabricators tends to produce repairs. Where spool work is the scope, ask for both and say which is the bigger share.

Testing Before Mobilisation

Ask any supplier to test to your procedure before workers mobilise, not after. Trade testing on arrival is normal; discovering on the second day that the positions do not match the pipework is avoidable. We supply workers trade-tested for the scope they are requested against — tell us the procedure and positions and the testing is matched to them rather than assumed.

Who Employs the Crew

Welders, fabricators and helpers we deploy are employed by Active Labors Supply under our MOHRE Employment Agency Licence, on our visas and Wage Protection System payroll, with medical insurance and PPE issued by us. Your welding engineer, inspector and supervisors retain the procedure, the inspection and the sign-off, as they must.

Where to Start

Welders are supplied in Sharjah, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Ajman, and fabricators in Sharjah, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Ajman. Where the spools then have to be installed, add mechanical fitters.

The Request That Wastes Everyone's Week

"Ten welders, Sunday, site in Dubai." It will be filled, and some of those ten will not be qualified for the joints waiting for them, through nobody's fault. Four extra lines — process, material, positions, inspection rate — turn the same request into a crew that can start.

Related Guides

mechanical fitters, plumbing crews and how long mobilising a crew takes.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

The welding process, the material, the positions required, whether the work is shop or site, and the inspection regime. If an approved Welding Procedure Specification exists for the project, sending it answers all of those at once.

Workers are trade-tested against the scope they are requested for. Because welder qualification is specific to procedure, position and material, tell us those in the request and ask for testing to your procedure before mobilisation rather than relying on a general assurance.

For spool and structural work, usually yes. Cutting, edge preparation and fit-up are a fabricator's work, and weld quality depends on how well that was done. A crew that is all welders tends to generate repair work.

Installation is a mechanical fitter scope. Fabricators and welders make the spools; fitters align, support and install them. Say if you need both phases covered and the crew will be proposed accordingly.