The need for common understanding and consistency in welding processes has led to the development of various standards. Such standards are also aimed at supporting interoperability between welding and other domains. However, this is only possible if welding standards are themselves free from semantic inconsistencies and incoherence. This is particularly important when communicating through computer systems. The research work reported in this paper investigates welding standards to identify and resolve semantic inconsistencies and incoherence within and across welding standards. Previous research in solving such issues lacks in formal capture of semantics. Formal i.e. computer interpretable, ontologies can potentially be a solution in resolving semantic issues. A formal ontology based approach is proposed to ensure semantic coherence and consistency within and across welding standards. Proposed ontology facilitates the formal capture of welding semantics. This aids in identifying and resolving semantic inconsistencies and resolve misinterpretations within and across welding standards. The work is leading towards the development of a formal semantic base for a range of welding standards. This research is expected to impact the international standards.