Industry News Archive

What an excellent letter from John Breakell to HPM News

"How can some-one be competent one day and become incompetent the next. " Exactly!!

Click on link to read

Click on image to view details of how to go.

8 fatalities from gas out of a total of 50 , 110 incidents rather less than the 4000 hospitalisations usually quoted when they call for ever increasing measures.

Click on url to read report

Significantly the risks from solid fuel appliances are 45 times greater.

Jurors in the trial of a gas engineer accused of the manslaughter of a young woman after allegedly carrying out a "rushed" and "botched" job of installing a boiler were due to retire to consider their verdicts this afternoon.

A gas fitter is to be prosecuted after an explosion that destroyed three houses and damaged hundreds more.

The explosion in Irlam, Manchester, injured 15 people when it occured on 2 November, 2010. Residents from 200 homes had to be re-housed after an exclusion zone was set up around damaged buildings in Merlin Road.

Investigations carried out in the following days revealed that the explosion had been caused by a suspected faulty gas pipe.

A registered gas fitter who installed a boiler at the Bath home of a woman who later died of carbon monoxide poisoning told a jury he felt “awful” that he had not screwed the pipes on.

Andrew Hartley, 37, of Bath New Road, Radstock, was adamant that he had snapped the push-fit pipes leading to the new boiler into place but said he could not explain why he had not fitted screws as well.

A gas fittter's explanation of why a flue pipe was found disconnected at a house where the daughter of a multi-millionaire publishing boss died of carbon monoxide poisoning was dubbed "just ridiculous" by an industry expert today.

Manslaughter suspect, Andrew Hartley, of Bath New Road, Radstock, fitted a new boiler at the family home of 24-year-old Zoe Anderson days before she was found dead.

http://www.parliamentlive.tv/Main/Player.aspx?meetingId=10293

Fantastic listen for those in gas or electrical industry.

Watch video below (gas bit starts at 17:17):

Waiting game for young plumber

 

Aspiring plumber Michael Driver is struggling to get his foot on to the employment ladder 18 months after leaving college.

Driver left Hartlepool College of Further Education with a Level 1 NVQ in plumbing but, apart from a month's temporary placement, is still looking for work.

The 20-year-old said since graduating from his plumbing course, he has applied for nearly 200 jobs. "I was kind of expecting to get work straight away. But it's a lot more difficult than I originally thought it would be."

Michael, who is broadening his job search to include bar work, labouring and work in care homes, said he felt his age was possibly putting employers off because of his lack of experience.

Costly fiasco of smart meters that don't work: Millions of devices may be replaced, warns watchdog.

Millions of green energy meters may have to be replaced because the technology is not working properly.

 
Homes and businesses which have already installed the digital devices have had problems switching to cheap deals and are even being hit with extra fees.

Many meters could have to be stripped out altogether and reinstalled with a Government-approved model.