Welder

Work Schedule

Days and hours vary depending on the assigned project.

Responsibilities & Duties

• Promote and comply with all Company and safety policies and procedures
• Weld components in flat, vertical, or overhead positions
• Ignite torches or start power supplies and strike arcs by touching electrodes to metals being welded, completing electrical circuits
• Clamp, hold, tack-weld, heat-bend, grind and/or bolt component parts to obtain required configurations and positions for welding
• Detect faulty operation of equipment and/or defective materials and notify supervisors
• Operate manual or semi-automatic welding equipment to fuse metal segments, using processes such as gas tungsten arc, gas metal arc, flux-cored arc, plasma arc, shielded metal arc, resistance welding, and submerged arc welding
• Monitor the fitting, burning, and welding processes to avoid overheating of parts or warping, shrinking, distortion, or expansion of material
• Examine work pieces for defects, and measure work pieces with straightedges or templates to ensure conformance with specifications
• Recognize, set up, and operate hand and power tools common to the welding trade, such as shielded metal arc and gas metal arc welding equipment
• Lay out, position, align, and secure parts and assemblies prior to assembly, using straightedges, combination squares, calipers, and rulers
• Chip or grind off excess weld, slag, or spatter, using hand scrapers or power chippers, portable grinders, or arc-cutting equipment
• Analyze engineering drawings, blueprints, specifications, sketches, work orders, and material safety data sheets to plan layout, assembly, and welding operations
• Connect and turn regulator valves to activate and adjust gas flow and pressure so that desired flames are obtained
• Weld separately or in combination, using aluminum, stainless steel, cast iron, and other alloys
• Determine required equipment and welding methods, applying knowledge of metallurgy, geometry, and welding techniques
• Prepare all material surfaces to be welded, ensuring that there is no loose or thick scale, slag, rust, moisture, grease, or other foreign matter
• Select and install torches, torch tips, filler rods, and flux, according to welding chart specifications, or types and thicknesses of metals
• Remove rough spots from work pieces, using portable grinders, hand files, or scrapers
• Position and secure work pieces, using hoists, cranes, wire, and banding machines or hand tools
• Clean or degrease parts, using wire brushes, portable grinders, or chemical baths
• Repair products by dismantling, straightening, reshaping, and reassembling parts, using cutting torches, straightening presses, and hand tools
• Fill holes and increase the size of metal parts
• Dismantle metal assemblies or cut scrap metal, using thermal-cutting equipment such as flame-cutting torches or plasma-arc equipment
• Check grooves, angles, or gap allowances, using micrometers, calipers, and precision measuring instruments
• Signal crane operators to move large work pieces
• Guide and direct flames or electrodes on or across work pieces to straighten, bend, melt, or build up metal
• Develop templates and models for welding projects, using mathematical calculations based on blueprint information
• Cut metal plates and structural shapes to dimensions, and contour and bevel as specified by blueprints, layouts, work orders, and templates, using powered saws, hand shears, or chipping knives
• Preheat work pieces prior to welding or bending, using torches or heating furnaces
• Use fire suppression methods in industrial emergencies
• Set up and use ladders and scaffolding as necessary to complete work
• Join parts such as beams and steel reinforcing rods in buildings, bridges, and highways, bolting and riveting as necessary
• Hammer out bulges or bends in metal work pieces
• Maintain a professional appearance
• Other duties as assigned by Foreman or Superintendent

Required Education

• High school diploma or equivalent GED

Required Experience

• Minimum of 6 months experience, one year certificate from a technical school or an equivalent combination of education and experience

Required Skills/Licenses/Certifications

• Must be able to pass the required welding certification test
• Valid driver’s license to operate motor vehicles
• Read and interpret documents such as safety rules, operating and maintenance instructions and procedure manuals
• Add and subtract two-digit numbers and multiply and divide with 10’s and 100’s, ability to perform these operations using unit weight measurements and volumes
• Ability to calculate rate, ratios and percentages
• Apply common sense understanding to carry out instructions furnished in written or oral form
• Workers should be able to work within precise standards of accuracy and follow set procedures and standards

Supervisory Responsibility

• None

Physical Demands & Working Conditions

• Able to bend, stoop, squat, crawl, climb, kneel, balance, push, pull, and reach overhead for extended periods of time
• Lift and carry at least 50 to 100 pounds
• Climb and descend all types of ladders
• Wear personal protective equipment (e.g., hardhat, eye protection, respiratory protection, fall protection, etc.)

Required Tools

• See Tool Requirements

Travel Requirement

• May be required to travel to different jobsites on limited notice

Work Environment

• Position requires working in all elements – heat, cold, rain, or snow – depending on job location and time of year
• May require use of personal vehicle for transportation to and from work site
• Must be able to utilize job site sanitary facilities (e.g., Portable Toilets)
• May require work in restricted areas (e.g., excavations, utility tunnels, manholes, tanks, crawl spaces, attics, etc.)
• May require working at various heights, up to 100-feet, from ladders, scaffolds, aerial lifts, catwalks, or other safe work areas