The Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE) has launched a scheme for energy assessors. The Scheme has been accredited by the government’s department for Communities and Local Government. The certification is one of the first available for energy assessors.
Recent research shows that 60% of consumers believe they will get ripped off by those in the home maintenance industry (such as plumbers, heating engineers, electricians, builders etc.). The research shows that 18% of the people surveyed said that TV programmes such as ‘Rogue Traders’ have put them off from using a home maintenance tradesman.
Corgi, the UK’s gas safety watchdog is calling for an introduction of a coherent system of gathering and reporting data on carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning, as several reports show conflicting results on injuries and fatalities due to CO poisoning (caused from faulty boilers, faulty gas cookers etc.).
A certification scheme for plumbing work was recently launched by the Scottish and Northern Ireland Plumbing Employer’s Federation (SNIPEF), in conjunction with Scottish Water. The new scheme allows businesses that have met the set criteria to be an Approved Contractor. According to the scheme plumbers which are approved contractors can self-certify that the plumbing work they carry out meets the Water Bylaws requirement.
Senior management of the big six utility companies in the UK have confirmed that bills for electricity and heating gas are most likely to rise substantially this year.
Worcester Bosch are launching a new fully equipped training facility in Bradford to offer training for plumbers and heating engineers in the North East of England.
Plumbers and utility companies have cleared out around 70,000 blockages last year from the sewer systems. More than half of the blockages cleared by the plumbers were caused by fat and cooking oil.
Many plumbers raised their concerns with us recently about the state of the economy and the falling house prices in the UK. According the leading mortgage lenders prices of properties in the UK have seen flat to negative growth rates, sending many plumbers and heating engineers into panic mode that it will mean the end of the property boom.
Boiler fitter, David Mountford from Stoke-on-Trent, put many lives at risk as he continued to work on boilers in customers’ homes despite being banned by the court. He has been taking on several boiler jobs and pretended to be a fully certified plumber while not having the right qualifications. On January 18th, he was sentenced to six months in jail.
A recent report published by the Construction Skills Network claims that more than 180,000 extra people are needed to finish the construction work for the Olympic games in 2012. The report mentions that among the missing professions there are plumbers, both commercial plumbers and domestic plumbers to complete the plumbing jobs on site. Other jobs mentioned are bricklayers, engineers and all types of plumbers and plumbing professionals.