should government make it law to be qualified plumber to do plumbing work for money?

[WaterTight]

Re: should government make it law to be qualified plumber to do plumbing work for mon

thanks fuzzy

 

[MattyW]

Re: should government make it law to be qualified plumber to do plumbing work for mon

Definetely should, or should have to declare it, I was shocked when I started my course and found out you needed no qualification to work as a plumber. You need to have a food certificate if you work in that industry so why not one for drinking water, not to mention if you get waste pipes wrong in someones house.

 

[Tong]

Re: should government make it law to be qualified plumber to do plumbing work for mon

This is an interesting thread but seems to not lead anywhere .. successive governments have always rejected calls by CIPHE and others for compulsory registration of plumbers and the only reasoning is that its too hard or too costly or some other political excuse?? In Australia particularly Victoria they have a system where all plumbers are licenced at differing levels contractor, tradesman etc. a contractor can certify work for his employees .. every job over $500 has to be registered with the commission and the night before logged in the database by phone or computer i.e rough-in, 2nd fix etc .. a percentage (I think 5%) of these jobs are selected by the computer for inspection on the day so nobody knows where or when till the inspector arrives .. the plumber doesn't have to be there as the inspector will put stickers green or RED!!! ..... Now that would be something to see in GB!
I do know as another poster mentioned that SNIPEF in Scotland & NI have started their own registration scheme (good for them) and it has some support from the Scottish parliament who seem to be less bogged down with silly burocrats who wouldn't know s**t from cheese!

 

[fuzzy]

Re: should government make it law to be qualified plumber to do plumbing work for mon

why do we need more legislation? isnt having a plumbing qual registration in itself?

 

[Bernie2]

Re: should government make it law to be qualified plumber to do plumbing work for mon

Hmm!

A few years ago the JIB wanted only graded Plumbers registered with them to be allowed to do Plumbing work?

The government never allowed it.

Most new start self employed Plumbers without a qualifying work record would say no to that.

Being a retired Technical JIB Plumber I could of course probably say yes to it. But that is only me being self interested, it may not be good for the customers of the industry who without we would have no industry and all be on the dole. So lets be fare to them.

 

[Reg Man]

Re: should government make it law to be qualified plumber to do plumbing work for mon

Reulations are only effective if the relevant bodies enforce them. Unfortunately this does not happen enough. We need consumer bodies in between to follow up on complaints. The HSE, Trading standards and envoiromental health have not got the resource to follow up everything that goes wrong. Qualifications for a tradesman are not enough, because all to often, some of these qualified people ignor what they know and do a bad job.

 

[ToolGuy]

Re: should government make it law to be qualified plumber to do plumbing work for mon

From a tradesman's point of view, yes require lots of certificates. From a customers view, no, just have a way to prove good quality of tidy work at reasonable price. So maybe have a website which lists all plumbers and all jobs done by them with customer comments so a new potential customer can make an informed choice.


Every craft, profession, is in the same situation. Photographers have very high costs, training yet everyone thinks they can take a photo. Writers learn their craft but are undercut by others writing. University lecturers may have done 12 years of training yet earn less than a plumber.


No, more legislation and restrictions isn't the way. Educate the customer to want a good job and show then that you can do that good job by word of mouth referrals. Some people simply won't be able to afford an expensive qualified person (plumber, electrician, gas fitter, window installer) so should they be forced to go without?

 

[coradia]

Re: should government make it law to be qualified plumber to do plumbing work for mon

Being a Gas safe registered Heating Engineer and seeing how expensive it is to be gas safe registered and hard we are policed. To bring in a seperate body to monitor plumbers would be a nightmare, what about the guy who can turn his hand to anything like a Handyman and earns a living doing odd jobs and can quite easily plumb a washing machine in or change a tap, would that mean that even if he did 3 or 4 "plumbing jobs" a year he would need a license? end result is really creating another body and making up jobs that the plumbers pay for and i think it is enough that i should pay for my gas safe without then paying for the plumbing aspect. End result is that we charge more and the consumer funds yet another government department i can see Corgi now rubbing their hands waiting in the wings.

 

[tamz]

Re: should government make it law to be qualified plumber to do plumbing work for mon

I like the Australia setup thing. It sounds easily enough run to me. Those who do their work right have nothing to fear.

Regulation would not stop DIY work.
I don't know anything about it, but i bet in Australia there is still lots of DIY work done.

When i started working in the 70's, we had water officers going around the district checking things and issuing notices as they had done for years before. Never seen one for maybe 20 years now and i honestly don't know if there is such a position any more. Such is progress.

What i do know is there needs to be some form of regulation here. As Reg man said. Bad plumbing is not killing anyone (well not directly) so nothing will be done!

 

[markfxy]

Re: should government make it law to be qualified plumber to do plumbing work for mon

the government is already doing something similar with renewables although its not law to be MCS registered the customer won't be able to claim rhi without the installer and the equipment being MCS registered when the rhi comes into force next april it will be a closed shop unless your'e registered. I think it's a good idea but it would be to difficult and epensive to police plumbing installations.