FDQ Tier 1 · Opens Wed Nov 18

QC training for pipeline and facilities hands.

Tier 1 is an online course for hands with no quality background. It teaches the work of a contractor QC tech or an owner-side junior inspector, on the right-of-way and inside the fence.

Founding price: $395 regular price $495. Get on the list before Tier 1 opens Wed Nov 18 to lock it in.Nothing to pay now. You only pay if you enroll.

Plays on the next page, and we email you the link. Tier 1 isn't open yet: this puts you on the list. It doesn't enroll you. Privacy

30 seconds from lesson 1, Why weld maps exist. The whole lesson is 4:47 and free with your email.

The paperwork side of the job, the part the crew never gets taught.

You already know what good work looks like. Tier 1 teaches the records that prove it, the ones a QC tech keeps every day. A few of them:

  • Module 6

    Weld mapping

    Number every weld, repairs, cut-outs and tie-ins included, so no number is ever used twice. Tie each one to its station, pipe, heat numbers, welders, WPS and NDE.

  • Module 6

    Building the weld log

    Build the log from a day of field data, reconcile it against the pipe tally, and audit someone else's log for errors.

  • Module 10

    Torque mapping

    Number and tag every bolted joint, convert target torque to pump pressure from the tool's chart, check the pattern and passes, and keep the torque record that signs each joint off.

  • Module 2

    Document control

    Make sure you're working the current revision, deal with a superseded copy, read transmittals and status codes, and handle redlines.

  • Module 2

    The NCR workflow

    Carry a nonconformance from finding and tagging to closure. Write the NCR with the requirement, what you found, where, and the evidence, with no blame.

  • Module 5

    Material traceability

    Read an MTR and check it against the spec, transfer heat numbers before pipe is cut, and quarantine material you can't trace.

  • Modules 2 and 3

    ITPs and hold points

    Read and write an inspection and test plan line, and know what the crew may do at each hold, witness and review point.

  • Module 11

    Test packages

    Build a test package and work out the test pressure at the high and low points of the section.

For welders, helpers, operators, laborers and foremen who want the quality side of the job. You don't need a quality background or a CWI to start. It covers gas and hazardous liquid lines and their stations, under 49 CFR 192 and 195.

See all 12 modules

Free lesson · 4 minutes 47 seconds

Lesson 1: Why weld maps exist

The first lesson of the weld mapping module. Put your email on the Tier 1 list and it opens right away, with the Weld Field Sheet to print.

Three tiers. Tier 1 opens first.

  • Tier 1

    Pipeline and facilities QC, from how a job runs to running a QC day: the work of a contractor QC tech or owner-side junior inspector.

    Opens Wed Nov 18
  • Tier 2

    For working QC inspectors and quality engineers who run quality on an active project.

    Coming soon
  • Tier 3

    For quality managers and directors who build the program a whole project works in.

    Coming soon

Who's behind FDQ

I started as a field inspector, holding the weld log on the right-of-way, and I've worked quality on pipeline, LNG, compressor station and industrial jobs since.

The best quality hands I worked with came up through the crew. FDQ is the course I wish someone had handed them: what the job actually is, what the paperwork is for, and how to do it so the crew still respects you.

More about FDQ