VALVE MAGAZINE Fall 2024

STANDARDS SPOTLIGHT

The National Board of Boiler and Pressure Vessel Inspectors The National Board is driven by the vision of global uniform safety of boilers, pressure

vessels, and other pressure-retaining items so that no person may experience the devastation of pressure equipment failure.

BY: VALVE MAGAZINE EDITORIAL TEAM

National Board of Boiler and Pressure Vessel Inspectors , often referred to simply as National Board or NBBI, was established in 1919 to “promote safety for life and property through uniform construction, installation, repair, maintenance and inspection of pressure equipment.” Today, National Board’s membership oversees adher ence to laws, rules and regulations relating to boilers and pressure vessels and are the chief boiler inspectors repre senting most U.S. major cities and states and provinces in Canada. Its materials are also being used in other munici palities in cities and countries around the world as the gold standard in pressure vessel safety oversight. Training and certification are a large part of the role NBBI plays in industry, offering classroom and online training programs for inspectors and pressure equipment profes sionals. And NBBI administers three accreditation programs for inspection organizations: Authorized Inspection Agencies (AIA), Federal Inspection Agencies (FIA), and Owner-User Inspection Organizations (OUIO). Accredited inspection organizations are authorized to employ National Board Commissioned Inspectors for in-service inspections and inspections of repairs and alter ations performed by NBBI R and NR accredited companies. Accreditation of these inspection organizations involves a thorough evaluation of an organization’s quality system manual to ensure compliance with NBBI’s accreditation requirements. More than 5,000 repair organizations in over 60 countries use the NBIC to perform repairs on pres sure-retaining items The Board also publishes the internationally recognized National Board Inspection Code, its flagship publication, that governs and maintains rules for pressure equipment. The

NBIC is adopted into law by most U.S. and Canadian jurisdic tions and is the basis for the National Board’s four accredita tion programs, R, VR, NR and T/O. More details about each of these designations can be found in the online version of this article. The National Board also maintains records of pressure-re taining products that are registered by individual manufac turers who meet a set of requirements. Registration with the National Board indicates that a pressure-retaining item is constructed in accordance with the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code and is inspected by a qualified National Board Commissioned Inspector. The NB Mark is used by manufac turers to identify items registered with the National Board. NBBI operates an international testing facility for pressure relief products. It is the only independent ASME-certified flow lab in the world today, located outside Columbus, Ohio, at the organization’s headquarters. The National Board is the ASME designee to conduct shop reviews of organizations for the ASME Certification mark with V, HV, UV and UD designators. It is also an ASME Designee for Valve Selection and Test Witnessing. For this function, representatives from the National Board are assigned to visit company sites to select production sample valves for testing at National Board- and ASME-accepted labs. Kim Beise, former chairman of the Valve Repair Council, has been a longtime contributor to the organization. Beise says, “The work that the National Board does keeps the boiler and pressure vessel industry safe and reliable.” The industry is grateful for the contributions of professionals like Beise. Editor’s note: Much of this article is directly excerpted from the National Board’s website. All excerpted content is copyright of The National Board of Boiler and Pressure Vessels.

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VALVE MAGAZINE

FALL 2024