Certification


Code Officials

AISC is reaching out to Authorities Having Jurisdictions (AHJ) to help inform them of our certification programs and provide guidance to its value. We are also providing codes, articles, additional resources to assist in further understanding – along with information as to why fabricators and erectors become certified and what steps they have to complete in order to accomplish this. If you have further questions, please contact us directly at either 312.670.7520 or certification@aisc.org.

Certification Process

Below is the general process for applying for AISC Certification. The process takes roughly seven to eight months conservatively. If you have specific questions, please contact AISC Certification at certification@aisc.org or 312.670.7520.

  1. Applicant to complete the online application form
    • AISC will review the form and send an email requesting an extended application, Application Documentation Submittals (see Application Document Submittals drop-down toward the bottom of this page), and fee.
    • The applicant will submit a completed extended application, Application Documentation Submittals (including quality manual), and a fee.
    • AISC will perform an Eligibility Review for all programs and endorsements the applicant has applied.
  2. AISC will move the applicant onto the documentation audit, in which the Audit Agency will perform an in-depth Documentation Audit of the Application Documentation Submittals. The applicant must resolve any deficiencies. Upon completion of the documentation audit, the site audit will be scheduled.
  3. The Audit Agency will perform a site audit where the auditor may issue Corrective Action Requests (CARs) for any deficiencies in the quality management system. CARs will be reviewed and must be resolved before findings will be submitted to AISC.
  4. Once the Audit Agency submits the audit findings, AISC will complete a series of reviews and determine certificate approval.

Certifications

AISC and its audit agency (Quality Management Company) each hold a specific certification noted below:

AISC Certification Independence

This is information on the independence of the American Institute of Steel Construction, LLC, (AISC) and Quality Management Company, LLC (QMC). For the official statement, please contact Todd Alwood, Director of Certification, at alwood@aisc.org or 312.670.7527.

AISC established its initial certification program in 1976. The program is currently administered by a balanced committee consisting of participants, specifiers, and building officials. The program standards under which an applicant's qualifications are audited are developed by a separate, balanced committee managed by AISC's Engineering and Research department. The Engineering and Research department also manages development of the structural steel specification that is incorporated into Building Codes in United States. Both the certification program standards and the steel specification are developed and balloted in accordance with the consensus process established by the American National Standards Institute.

The AISC Certification Standards are unique in the construction industry. They are focused squarely, and narrowly, on the fabricated structural steel industry. Early in the evolution of the AISC certification program it became apparent that specialized expertise was required to audit to the AISC Certification Standards, and that this specialized expertise was not generally available on a national and international bases, even in seemingly-related, metal-working industries. Accordingly, in order to assure that structural steel fabrication facilities and structural steel erection companies across the nation and around the world were audited in a uniformly-competent manner, AISC-determined that its quality certification programs would be audited by a single auditing company, world-wide, and that the auditing company selected would be independent and singularly qualified to audit structural steel fabrication facilities and erection companies to AISC Certification Standards. QMC was subsequently organized to meet this challenge. Audits undertaken by QMC are performed by independent, specially trained, contract auditors who are employees of neither AISC nor QMC.

Great care is taken to maintain separation among the program's administrative process, it's standards-setting process, and the auditing process. AISC Maintains strict anti-trust and conflict-of-interest policies. While structural steel fabricators and erectors (along with steel mills, structural engineers, steel warehouses, college professors and researchers) may be members of AISC, there is no involvement by any certified fabricator, or erector, or any applicant for certification, in the program administration or auditing processes. There is a complete separation of audited companies form this process. QMC, itself, is separately and independently certified by ISO; and the audits conducted by its contract auditors are subject to review under a series of quality control processes administered in strict compliance with anti-trust and conflict-of-interest requirements.

Resources

Articles

AISC Specifications/Codes

Below is a list of AISC's specifications and codes. For a complete list of documents available for free downloading, please visit www.aisc.org/standards.

STANDARDS, REQUIREMENTS, AND APPLICATION DOCUMENT SUBMITTALS

Governing Requirements and Standards

The Governing Requirements for Certification Programs have been updated and take effect on June 1, 2023, for all participants and applicants. Please see our Certification Updates webpage for information.

Application Document Submittals

Additional documents required for Erector certification:

Additional optional documents for Bridge certification: