ASME PCC-1-2022 – What are the 5 Compliant Tags you need?

ASME (American Society of Mechanical Engineers), have recently revised their PCC-1 guidelines for Pressure Boundary Bolted Flange Joint Assembly.

This document, written by engineers, scientists, and business executives across the bolting industry, addresses the key factors involved in bolting principles and the assembly of bolted flange joints. While PCC-1 is only a guideline, it is considered by many as the standard for bolted flange joints globally.

In our previous ASME PCC1-2022 blog, we discussed what these changes meant for joint assembly record compliance, with particular reference to our multi-part tear off flange tag.

While our multi-part tear off flange tag is recommended by ASME for joints of all risk levels, there are other compliant tags which should be considered. Outlined in the document, are five examples of compliant joint assembly records, each recommended for use according to the risk level of the joint, and the needs of the user. These include:

Joint identification tags
Multi-part tear off flange tags
Long assembly record tags
Medium-length assembly record tags
Short assembly record tags

In this article, we are going to take you through the five PCC-1-2022 compliant flange tags (with examples); and what level of joint risk they are recommended for.

PCC-1-2022: What are the purposes of Joint Assembly Record tags?

According to the revised PCC-1 guidelines, joint assembly records (Flange Tags) serve the following three purposes:

Quality Control: Joint assembly records document the name and actions of each person responsible for a particular portion of the joint assembly process. This allows for better accountability if an incident occurs.
Joint History: Joint assembly records document past assembly processes, observations made during the assembly, and lessons learned. This will allow future joint assemblers to mitigate the risk of a leak and look for guidance if there is one.
Assembly Practices: Joint assembly records show all joint-specific practices, and deviations from, changes to, comments, and observations about the site assembly procedure. This data can be gathered by work personnel to update the assembly procedure before the next joint maintenance activity.

1) Compliant tags for unique joint identification

Joint ID Tag

The first step in maintaining joint assembly records is to identify each joint uniquely. To do so, each joint must have a unique identifier associated with a joint ID tag. This tag serves the following three purposes:

Identification: The unique identifier tag enables an assembler to identify the correct joint before beginning any maintenance.
Storage: The unique identifier tag enables the storage of assembly records.
Hazard Mitigation: The unique identifier tag minimizes potential hazards associated with the disassembly, assembly, and tightening of the wrong joint.

Joint assembly tags

In the updated PCC-1 document, the level of detail recorded in the assembly record should be decided by the user based on each individual joints risk level. After determining the risk level of each joint, the user may follow one of the below paths for tagging:

2) Compliant flange tags for joints of ALL risk levels

Multi-part Tear off Tag

For joints of all risk levels, our multipart tear-off FLANjTAGS® have been recommended as being compliant. These tags provide a highly visual status record to show that all steps of the flange break process have been safely carried out.

As seen in the ASME approved example below, these tags include sequentially numbered tear-off sections that provide visual evidence of each step being carried out. These can be retained as an effective audit trail.

3) Compliant flange tags for joints of a HIGH risk level

Long Assembly Record Tag

For joints of a high risk level, it is recommended a long assembly record is completed. Long assembly records not only facilitate quality control of the joint, but compared to other smaller joint assembly records, additionally capture joint assembly parameters and/or observations (as seen in the example below).

These tags can be archived after start-up and used as an effective audit trail in the next assembly or maintenance procedure on the joint.

4&5) Compliant flange tags for joints of a LOWER risk level

Medium-Length and Short Assembly Record Tags

If the user has established the joint as being a lower-risk level after conducting a joint criticality analysis, it may not be practical nor necessary to maintain a record of all join parameters as you would in a long assembly record. Therefore, a medium-length, or short joint assembly record is advised (see examples below). These tags are usually disposed of after start-up and a new assembly record is produced for future joint maintenance.

Achieve Zero Incidents, and Joint Assembly Record Compliance with REGALTAG

In the latest PCC-1 document, our multipart tear-off FLANjTAGS® have been recommended as being compliant for joints of “all risk levels”. These tags provide a highly visual status record to show that all steps of the flange break process have been safely carried out. The sequentially numbered tear-off sections provide visual evidence of each step being carried out and can be retained as an effective audit trail.

All tags used as examples in this article are designed by REGALTAG in line with the ASME PCC-1-2022 compliance guidelines.

More on REGALTAG

We help companies in harsh environments reach Zero; that’s Zero incidents and Zero emissions.

Our Prism® Tagging material is always UV resistant and freeze proof. They can be relied upon in all conditions to perform their critical safety role.

They’re also 100% recyclable and manufactured in our zero-to-landfill facilities to ensure you receive the most environmentally friendly system.

Our flange tags are also:

Fully customisable – we work with customer to ensure the tag fully meets their current flange management procedures

Available with QR codes / barcodes

Made from ISO 4892-2:2013 Tested Material
Available with VARiTAG® unique numbering
Available in bilingual or dual languages

Request your sample of the ASME compliant multi-part Flange Tag or get in touch to discuss your flange tagging system in more detail.