Conflict of Interest and Work Outside the Agency's Quality Program
An Authorized Inspection Agency employs Inspector R, who holds a National Board commission. R has been assigned to a fabrication shop that is owned by R's spouse's family. R did not disclose the relationship on the annual conflict-of-interest form. During a supervisory review, the AIS finds that R signed three R-1 data reports for repairs at the shop in the past quarter and that one repair involved a weld made by R's brother-in-law. The agency's accreditation covers new construction and repairs, but the shop's repairs are outside the scope of the agency's written quality program because the program excludes 'field repairs.' The AIS must decide immediate actions, whether the prior inspections are valid, and what to report to the agency and the jurisdiction. The shop is pressuring the agency to leave the reports in place because the customer has already returned the equipment to service.
1. What immediate actions should the AIS take upon discovering the undisclosed relationship?
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The AIS should remove Inspector R from the shop immediately and from any review of the prior reports. The AIS should notify agency management and the AIS's own supervisor chain. The AIS should open a conflict-of-interest file, preserve the three R-1s and the shop's records, and arrange an independent review by a commissioned AI with no relationship to the shop. The AIS should not self-review R's work. Because the conflict was not disclosed, the AIS should review the agency's annual disclosure process and correct it. The AIS should consider whether the National Board and the jurisdiction require notification; the agency's quality program should define reporting. Interim controls should ensure that no further reports are signed by R at that shop. The AIS should document the timeline, because the agency will need to show that it acted promptly once the conflict was known.
2. Are the three prior inspections and R-1 reports automatically void?
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The prior inspections are not automatically void, but they are suspect. The agency must have an independent commissioned AI review the three R-1s, the repair procedures, and the welder qualifications. If the work is acceptable and the only defect is the undisclosed conflict, the agency may be able to have the reports re-executed by an independent AI after review, with jurisdiction acceptance. If the work is deficient, the repair organization must correct it and a new report must be issued. The AIS should not simply leave the reports in place because they were registered; registration does not cure a conflict or a technical defect. The review should also consider whether R's judgment was affected in the report that involved the brother-in-law's weld, and whether additional nondestructive examination is needed to verify that weld.
3. How does the 'field repairs' exclusion in the agency's quality program affect the reports?
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The scope issue is separate and may be dispositive. If the agency's written quality program excludes field repairs, the agency was not authorized to perform that inspection, and the R-1 is outside the agency's scope. The agency should not sign or register the report. The shop must arrange an agency whose program covers the work, or the agency must amend its program and obtain the necessary approvals before performing the work. The AIS should notify the shop and the jurisdiction, and the National Board registration should be withheld or corrected. Performing outside scope is an accreditation issue, not a paperwork issue. The AIS should not allow the shop's schedule pressure to convert an out-of-scope inspection into an acceptable report, because the jurisdiction may later reject the report and require re-inspection.