The AWI register of certified people

What the register is

The register is the record, not the paper. A certificate and a wallet card are evidence that AWI issued something on a date. The register is what says whether it is still current today, what range it covers, and whether it has been renewed, suspended or withdrawn since.

That distinction matters on a job. A laminated card in a wallet proves an event in the past. A register entry answers the question a principal contractor is actually asking, which is whether this person is certified right now for the work in front of them.

Checking somebody’s certification today

Ask for two things: the certificate number and the certificate category or scheme. Then send both to AWI with the holder’s surname.

1. Email or call AWI with the certificate number and surname.
2. AWI confirms the scheme, the categories held, the range, the issue date and the current status.
3. Where the enquiry relates to a specific contract, AWI can confirm in writing on letterhead.

If somebody cannot produce a certificate number, that is itself a useful answer. Every certificate AWI has issued has one.

What the searchable register will do

Two separate jobs, and they should not be built as one tool:

• Confirming a specific certificate. Certificate number plus surname, covering every certificate AWI has issued. This is the tool a contractor checking paperwork needs.
• Finding a certified person. Search by scheme, certificate category and state, covering only people who have chosen to be listed. This is the tool an employer looking for a welder needs, and it is a directory rather than a verification record.

Building the second one is easy. Building the first one honestly requires certification data that is complete, current and reconciled, and AWI does not have that in a usable state yet. Publishing a lookup that returns “no record found” for a genuine certificate is worse than publishing nothing, because it calls a real welder a liar.

Certificate numbers

Every AWI certificate carries a unique number, and it is the number that makes a certificate checkable. Quote it when you ask AWI to confirm a certification, because a name on its own is not enough to answer with.

A number on its own does not identify a person either, which is the property that makes a public lookup safe to build: the number and the surname have to agree before anything comes back. Certificates issued over the years carry the numbering that was in use at the time, so if the number on the certificate in front of you does not look like the last one you saw, that is expected rather than suspicious. Ask AWI and quote it as written.

What this register will not contain

Worth being explicit, because a register of people is exactly where a professional body is most likely to do harm.

• No date of birth. Not displayed, not searchable, not returned by any public route.
• No street address. State or territory only, and only where the person has opted in to be listed at all.
• No phone number or email. Not displayed, not searchable, not returned by any public route.
• No employer unless the person has specifically chosen to publish it.
• No members who have not opted in. Membership does not put you on the public listing. Certification does not put you on the public listing. Choosing to be listed does.
• No bulk export. Any search will be rate limited and paginated, because it exists to answer a question about specific work rather than to hand over a list.

The privacy policy sets out the full position, including how to remove a listing.

Being listed

Holders of current AWI certification will be able to choose to be listed once the directory is live. It will cost nothing for members and be reversible at any time, immediately, without a conversation.

Why bother: because employers looking for a certified welder in a specific category and a specific state are the audience for that listing, and they cannot find you if you are not on it. Why not bother: because some people would rather not be findable, which is a perfectly reasonable position and is why it is opt in rather than automatic.

Listing is opt in, free for members, and reversible at any time. The directory shows credentials and no contact details, so being listed does not put your phone number in front of anybody. If you hold AWI certification and are not a member, ask AWI about being listed.

Withdrawn and suspended certification

Where AWI withdraws or suspends a certificate, or establishes that somebody has claimed certification they do not hold, that has to be findable. A certification body that quietly withdraws a certificate and tells nobody has not protected anyone.

AWI does not publish a list of names. Until the publication policy is adopted, AWI answers a question about a withdrawn or suspended certificate by written enquiry through the office, which is the same route as any other verification: send the certificate number and the surname. A certificate holder has a right of appeal under the appeals and complaints procedure, which is why a name does not go on a page before that process has run.