It really is time new industry entrants were able to obtain The Gas Installer (TGI) magazine, which currently is restricted in circulation to registered businesses. What better way to welcome and encourage new entrants, many of whom will be employees and perhaps encourage those employees to become registered with Corgi in their own name. That will also give them freedom, mobility and they can earn a crust at weekend or perhaps brush up on new areas of work.
Employees are reminded that although they may become qualified gas installers, they cannot legally undertake work on their own behalf unless they are Corgi registered in their own name. Corgi only register businesses, not individuals. One employee was prosecuted by the HSE last year. A bit rich in our view as that subject to my knowledge has never been given a high profile. It has been mentioned in TGI but employees do not see TGI ?
Nature.com is high on my reading list but I have so far resisted the temptation to conduct any of the gory experiments regularly featured in that extraordinary journal. I admit I have dug up the odd artefact and regularly experiment in the fascinating world of applied entomology but so far I have not disgraced myself. Perhaps ACS centres could be trusted to allocate TGI responsibly. Time Corgi got real. Time to communicate effectively. New entrants need all the help and support they can get ?
The first two pages of TGI unashamedly promote Corgi Insurance services and we are in our second year with them. We were with Irontrades but they took eight months to answer a simple question and then only because we served notice under the County Court Acts on their CEO. Remember that one. CEO’s will never make the honours list if they rock the boat by coming to the attention of Lord Irvine of Lairg.
They say it is never too late and page six features a 60 year old gentleman who has just qualified following a few years in the wilderness. I know a number of people who are wavering at 40 years old. Do you need any more incentive to boldly go where maybe many thousands will not be going by the ACOPs deadline ? There has never been a better time.
The current Managing Editor of TGI was previously Public Relations Officer at Corgi and that shows in the headline on Page 13 which conceals growing unease at the sluggish ACS take up. Barry Watkinson, Head of Gas Safety Policy for the HSE was addressing yet another body, called the Registered Gas Assessors and Trainers Association (ReGATA) at their annual bash. All the fancy talk cannot hide the fact that people are voting with their feet as we predicted many moons ago. You can now look forward to a more streamlined (CITB) ACS. Whatever you do shop around and try to negotiate a deal. It is a buyers market and deals can be struck, I did.
I wondered why Bob Towse left Corgi to take the top spot at the HVCA. Page 17 features a gas powered toilet (honest) and a gas powered mosquito magnet. If you are thinking a mosquito magnet is as much use as a condensing boiler rep in the USA then think again. The Telegraph featured another case of Malaria contracted in the UK last week.
A grim reminder to us all regarding the Industry Unsafe Procedure (IUP). The tragic case referred to in TGI July / August is repeated in more detail on Page 20. It cost an Installer £ 5000 for failing to identify the absence of air for combustion to an open flue boiler. There was a fatality with no cause due to the Installer.
Mindful of that I served formal notice for the same thing two days ago on a business. They knew I was coming and on my way up the stairs to the office, an employee whispered in my ear that they thought I was a cowboy (presumably trying to generate work). Told that employee not to worry, they’d soon find out I’m the Marshall. I had given clear verbal advice and sent an email which they denied receiving so I made a quiet but flamboyant entrance with prepared forms and typed report. For once I obtained a signature though a volunteer was difficult to find. I was prepared for the first time to summon Transco and ask them to countersign.
By the way that boiler is connected to an unvented system, contrary to MI which specifically states the boiler must not be connected to an unvented system. Installers should get far more support from the HSE on IUP. Those cowards get paid at the end of the month, often we do not when serving notices. They are a disgrace.
Our colleagues in the Institute of Electrical Engineering have introduced new requirements for electrical equipment in bathrooms. Installers will now need to ask boiler manufacturers about IPX ratings (?) You can’t remember everything. We scan such pages, print them out and carry them around to show customers if the need arises, so they don’t think we are cowboys trying to generate more work. Presumably now there will be a host more Not to Current Standards (NCS) to write out. You may even find yourself crabbing your own work carried out last year, heaven forbid.
The often featured Arthur Hobbs has delivered yet another interesting discussion on materials used in condensing boilers. Well worth a read that. Finally, another candidate for my scanner is the three pages on the whole range of flame supervision devices.
Whatever concerns we may have had about Corgi, they consistently produce high quality technical features as we have consistently said. All this information should be available to trainees now, to develop their learning skills and give them a sense of belonging.
I will be attending a Corgi evening at North Trafford College this week and will raise that issue. We note in advertising that the ICON ACS centre is offering combi fault finding courses. We may start a section in the Library for such training centres if anyone is interested.
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