IOP(SA) WEBNEWS AND PLUMBING INFORMATION
PLUMBER REGISTRATION SCHEME LAUNCHED
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Let’s start by informing you that the Institute of Plumbing SA has
taken a major decision on behalf of all our members to approach
Government with a proposal to obtain changes to the existing legislation
listed in SABS 0400/Part A18 of the National Building Regulations that
will allow for the introduction of compulsory individual plumber
registration on an annual basis.
So to get the ball rolling, IOP (SA) has held preliminary meetings
with various people in the plumbing industry, all of whom have indicated
that they would support these proposals. We have also spoken to the
Department of Labour and the CETA who agree that this would support
their own qualification certification process … local authorities have
shown great interest in this initiative.
The problem is guys, that when the last edition of SABS 0400 was
published in 1990, the third paragraph of SABS 0400/Part A18 stated that
"Plumbers are no longer required to register with local authorities
after the coming into operation of that Act" … Crazy isn’t it ??
Unfortunately that grammatical error, has allowed hundreds of
unqualified plumbers to enter the industry to the detriment of industry
trained qualified plumbers, simply because they are no longer required
to register with the municipal authorities … however we should point out
that the majority of Metropolitan Councils still require every plumber
who works in their municipal area to register.
Compulsory annual registration of plumbers is an essential part of
formalising who is permitted to work in the plumbing industry … The main
focus of the IOP (SA) plumber registration program will be based on
creating a national "live listing" of every plumber who is actively
trading in a municipal area ... this will enable municipal authorities,
engineers and architects, together with the insurance industry and
consumers to make sure that the plumber they want to appoint appears on
the "live listing" of qualified plumbers … that’s it full stop !!!
The Editor will appreciate any positive response or support for this
initiative as this will assist IOP (SA) in our motivation to Government
to change legislation on this issue … come on guys, work with us on this
one !!!
Please
Email
or Fax: 011 477 4520 your comments.
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IOP (SA) WEBSITE NEWS AND INFORMATION
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The Institute of Plumbing SA wishes to inform our members, that the
upgraded version of the new IOP (SA) website is now on line.
One of the main features of our new webpage format is that any IOP (SA)
member wanting to find out about the latest news and information from
IOP (SA) can now access this through our new revised website.
IOP (SA) members will remember that the IOP (SA) Newsletter used to
be published quarterly, but this was discontinued in 2005 when the new
IOP (SA) website was introduced. This decision has turned out to be
short sighted, simply because many of our members don’t have access to
an Internet facility, they still prefer to have a hard copy of the
Newsletter.
So to keep everyone up to date with what’s happening at IOP (SA), the
national office has decided that quite apart from our Web News page, an
IOP (SA) Newsletter will be published every month as from March 2007.
Website Advertising
Why not support IOP (SA) by advertising your manufacturing company or
plumbing contracting business on the official IOP (SA) website, not only
has it become a very popular form of advertising but the website is
experiencing an ever increasing number of local and overseas people
visiting the site, making various enquiries about the plumbing industry
in South Africa.
Why not make use of this opportunity guys ?? And advertise right now
!!
Introductory Offer:
| Banner Heading (top of page) |
| One-time Setup Charge |
R 275.00 |
| Monthly Rental |
R 250.00 |
| Side Banners (right-hand) |
| One-time Setup Charge |
R 240.00 |
| Monthly Rental |
R 150.00 |
Another important item to note is that IOP (SA) offer a website
design service to anyone who hasn’t got a website, so why not let IOP
(SA) design one for you today ??
Advertising slots can be taken in blocks of six months to allow
advertisers to monitor responses.
IOP (SA) is planning to list all paid up members at the end of each
month, in the same format as in the Plumbing Africa magazine, however
paid up members names will appear on the website two months before they
appear in the Plumbing Africa Magazine.
Website Visitors 2006
| Ave visitors per day: |
40 |
| Ave pages viewed: |
2.7 |
| Ave time: |
3.5 mins |
As can be seen, the trend is for more and more
visitors to the web site. The newly revamped site was launched in June
and the impact can clearly be seen in the graph. In November 2006,
there were +-1240 visitors who viewed a total +-3500 pages.
This website is very active locally and internationally … why not
make use of it guys ??
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THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR TO RETIRE
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Bill Randell your esteemed Editor of the IOP (SA) Newsletter for the
last ten years and Executive Director of IOP (SA) since 1997, is to
retire as from the end of February 2007, so before I disappear into the
history books of IOP (SA), I have to say that I will always cherish the
fact that I have had the opportunity to meet and work with so many
people in this industry who have the same passion about plumbing as I
have enjoyed over the past fourteen years.
I won’t pretend that my job as Executive Director of IOP (SA) has
always been a bed of roses … quite the contrary in fact, the Institute
has without doubt, gone through some very difficult and very turbulent
times in the past five years, yet at the same time I am proud of the
fact that IOP (SA) has grown into a very creditable organisation, our
membership growth in the past two years confirms this, so I am very
proud to see that IOP (SA)’s achievements over the past fourteen years
is starting to pay huge dividends.
I also believe that the introduction of SABS/SANS Codes of Practice
into the Water Services Act in 2001 has also been responsible for the
growth of the Institute of Plumbing SA in the last five years … for
instance, SANS 10254 the Code of Practice for geyser installations has
changed how plumbers are required to install geysers, how insurance
companies are now required to insure geysers and what the consumers
responsibilities are with regard to geyser installations.
Just to highlight the consumer issue, I believe that the huge growth
in consumer enquiries received by the national office, especially in the
last two years, can be attributed to the consumer becoming aware of the
new regulations, but probably the most disturbing factor about all this
being, that most consumer calls we receive today are coming from
recently completed domestic buildings.
One has to ask, why does IOP (SA) continue to receive an
ever-increasing number of plumbing complaints every day? The answer is
quite obvious … the quality of our plumber’s hand skills in general is
fast becoming cause for concern. Why is that, we must ask, is it because
the training system is no longer producing qualified plumbers as it did
so successfully until 1998, under the old apprenticeship plumber
training scheme, or is it simply because plumbing contractors are no
longer interested in training staff? Whatever the cause may be, it seems
to me that it should become compulsory for plumbing contractors to train
staff, full stop!!
In conclusion, and on that cautious yet extremely critical note, I
can only appeal to our plumbing contractor members to be more vigilant
when it comes to the supervision of your installers plumbing work … make
sure that the quality of their plumbing hand skills is maintained in the
work environment on a daily basis.
Finally, I really want to express my sincere thanks to all our
members for the support you have given both myself and Jenny at the
national office, and all those other people who work tirelessly behind
the scenes of IOP (SA) to always ensure that what we do is successful …
many thanks guys.
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PLUMBER TRAINING SCHEMES UPDATE
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An air of uncertainty still continues to plague plumber training
schemes. The national office is constantly receiving enquiries from
concerned parents and plumbing contractors asking about plumber training
programs … many of them asking if the old plumbing apprenticeship
programs are still in place !! So we thought it worthwhile to allow our
members to weigh up the various options.
There are two official ways of training plumbers, one being the CETA
Plumbing Learnership Program and the other being the Plumber
Apprenticeship Training Program … so, which of the two would you choose?
First of all before you make your decision, here are a number of issues
you need to be aware of:
1. As an employer how do you want your plumber to be trained?
Especially now that the plumber learnership training programs are under
threat from a lack of funds at the CETA, which has also seen the CETA
having to cut plumbing contractor training rebates by half over the last
twelve months.
2. What are your options? We have asked many employers what they
would prefer and the answer is somewhat confusing to say the least,
although it must be said, that more plumbers would prefer their staff to
enter into a plumbing apprenticeship training program, for the following
reasons:
- Employers want the emphasis of plumber training to be focused on
plumbing hand skills … which is exactly what an apprenticeship plumber
training program provides … and further to this, apprentices have to
pass a compulsory Government plumbing trade test, before being permitted
to trade as a plumber.Granted that currently the apprenticeship training
program needs to be upgraded to 2006 standards, but that’s a
relatively simple task to rectify.The cost of training an apprentice
is R16000.
- On the other hand, many employers believe that the plumber learnership training programs offer much more in the way of subject
content, which IOP (SA) can confirm is correct … yet strangely enough we
must query why the academics who created this training program have
omitted a compulsory plumbing trade test? Why one earth would they do
that?
Assessors are not actually necessary, why so much unnecessary
paperwork, the contractors rebate claims procedures literally are
clogging up the system !!!
The cost of training a learner in a CETA plumbing learnership
training program is R40 000 !!!
The other strange turn about in plumber training programs, is that
seven years ago, parents who wanted their sons to enter into a plumbing
apprenticeship program expected plumbing contractors to pay for the
training course, but today parents are offering to pay for plumber
training courses, many of whom preferring to go the low cost route by
choosing plumber apprenticeship training over the plumber learnership
training programs simply because of the cost of the training, which
seems to us to be something CETA needs to seriously address.
Plumbing is not the only trade in the building industry that is
affected by over complicated learnership programs; the SA Master
Builders Association is literally fed up with the whole skills training
issue! However now that I have finished whinging about current plumber
training problems, I can tell you that behind the scenes, there are some
exciting new plumber training developments coming up early next year!
Watch this space guys !!
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NEW ZEALAND PLUMBERS JOURNAL
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We receive plumbing magazines from Britain, Australia and New Zealand
… the Plumbing Africa Magazine, which is our official journal, is number
one when it comes to content and presentation, but New Zealand is the
funniest !!
Double Meanings:
THINGY
Female – Any part under a cars bonnet!
Male – The strap fastener on a woman’s bra!
VULNERABLE
Female – Opening up one’s self emotionally to your partner!
Male – Playing cricket without a box!
COMMUNICATION
Female – The sharing of thoughts with one’s partner!
Male – Leaving a note for your wife before taking off on a fishing
trip with the boys!
COMMITMENT
Female – A desire to get married and raise a family!
Male - Trying not to flirt with another woman when out with your
wife!
ENTERTAINMENT
Female – A good movie, concert, play or good book!
Male – Anything that can be done while drinking beer!
REMOTE CONTROL
Female – A device for changing from one TV channel to another!
Male – A device for scanning through all 135 channels every five
minutes!
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INSTITUTE OF PLUMBING HEATING & ENGINEERING MAGAZINE UK
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The Editor reports that lack of plumbing work particularly in the
cities and rural areas of South East England is fast becoming a
widespread problem due to the influx of foreign labour who are taking up
and completing fast track plumber training courses and setting up
businesses …
Makes you think, doesn’t it?
Well what about this then?
Quote from a member of the Institute of Plumbing/Heating:
"I am a qualified plumber trading in the plumbing industry in
England, I am becoming more than seriously concerned about the standard
of plumbing work and hand skills that I am encountering these days …"
Where have we heard that before? It just goes to show you that
plumber training and quality hand skill is under threat worldwide. I
would never have believed that the UK would suffer from this phenomena …
Australia had the same concerns six years ago, but after making specific
changes to the legislation governing plumber training, hand skills
training is back on track …
Quote from a member of the Institute of Plumbing/Heating
"I have grave reservations over the future of our industry, goodness
knows what damage is being inflicted on the British public be people who
call themselves plumbers !!!
For this reason I would like to see a compulsory national plumber
registration scheme put in place, where people operating as plumbers
must prove their qualification status at the registration stage, this
will protect the public and the plumbing industry from the unscrupulous
operators calling themselves plumbers."
Now isn’t that something guys, I really thought that in the year
2006, the Brits would have a national plumber registration scheme
already in place !!
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AUSTRALIAN PLUMBING INDUSTRY MAGAZINE
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I read an article this month in the Aussie plumbing magazine that
really caught my eye … it reads:
What is the future of electric hot water storage heaters?
It refers to energy and the environment issues but it made an
interesting read, it goes on to say that sustainability is no longer a
buzzword. It is a word that can possibly mean the difference between
life and death of the planet, which is certainly sounding death knoll
for the electric hot water storage unit … unless etc. etc.
Sounds pretty dramatic, doesn’t it? But if you study some of the
statistics listed below, you will understand as I have done, why Aussie
is treating this matter with concern. For instance, in Australia, coal
fired power stations generate electrical power which in turn releases
hundreds of tons of greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere each year …
the building code of Australia (BCA), already stipulates that all new
domestic buildings are required to meet the new energy performance
guidelines.
The current estimated domestic market in Australia sees 7.4 million
households with approximately 650,000 to 700,000 hot water system
replacements per annum, which if one combines this with the 130000 new
houses being built each year, brings you a total of 800,000 hot water
units being installed each year !!! Sounds familiar doesn’t it?
Without boring you with the other details, Aussie seems hell bent on
changing over to gas fired hot water storage systems on the one hand and
solar assisted/gas hot water systems on the other … interesting isn’t
it?
One final point on this issue is that hot water heating systems
account for between 25 – 35% of all household electric generated energy
used in Australia today.
I wonder if any official body in South Africa is even looking at this
problem??? Or if any geyser manufacturer in South Africa has even though
about developing an energy saving hot water storage system???
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IOP (SA) NATIONAL MEMBERSHIP 2006/2007
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As at 6 December 2006:
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Plumbing Contractors: |
665 |
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Manufacturers: |
95 |
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Merchants: |
74 |
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Associate Members: |
31 |
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Other memberships: |
30 |
| Total |
926 |
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SEASONS GREETINGS
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From all of us here at IOP (SA), we wish all our members a Happy
Festive Season and a very Happy New Year filled with business
opportunities, business growth and financial satisfaction.
Sincere Regards
STEVE BROWN/PRESIDENT
BILL RANDELL AND JENNY CALMEYER / NATIONAL OFFICE.
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