Steel Fabrication Certification (SFC) is an industry-led quality assurance scheme. It ensures participating fabricators have appropriate personnel and quality management systems in place representing international best-practice.
As with other construction materials, the current compliance regime for structural steelwork relies, for the most part, on self-inspection and self-certification. The SFC scheme – based on the European system that forms part of the CE-marking regulatory environment – raises the bar by providing independent, expert certification of New Zealand fabrication companies.
Importantly, SFC creates a point of difference for locally fabricated steel compared with imported product, and it provides procurers and specifiers – such as engineers, architects and contractors – with certainty of product quality and significantly reduced compliance risk.
The scheme is going from strength to strength. A significant number of fabricators across New Zealand have now achieved certification under the scheme, ensuring that a high percentage of the local industry output is meeting international best practice.
The SFC qualification is now mandatory for all our SCNZ Constructor members, showing overwhelming support for the SFC scheme and to raising industry standards.
Following on from this milestone, in 2018 SCNZ announced that the SFC scheme has been extended to include a site erection module. This addition is a natural progression for the development of the scheme as New Zealand’s structural steel contractors typically provide complete project management, and this module is formal recognition of this end-to-end approach. This latest enhancement makes our industry even more accountable for the final execution and delivery of a completed, compliant structure.
The recent boom in construction activity, centred on Christchurch and Auckland, has meant an increase in the amount of imported steelwork entering New Zealand. However, there have been cases where paperwork has been missing or the prefabricated steel does not meet the required specification, leading to costly project delays.
The SFC scheme gives procurers peace of mind by ensuring that certified fabricators have the appropriate quality management systems in place to consistently produce compliant fabricated products of the required standard.
To find details of certified fabricators local to you, please click here.
Steel Fabricator Certification is a key point of difference for local fabricators in the face of growing competition from imported prefabricated structural steel, which can be of uncertain provenance and quality.
For more information, please visit steelfabcert.co.nz or contact Darren O’Riley.
Five years on from its launch, New Zealand’s Steel Fabrication Certification (SFC) scheme has been a great success. Approximately 88% of structural steel is fabricated by SFC certified fabricators, with several more businesses well on their way to certification.
Meeting SFC’s prescribed international best-practice standards presents challenges in terms of the procedural and personnel qualification requirements………..Click here to read the whole article.
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