Plumber requires danger money

You might not be aware of how dangerous it can be to be a plumber. This is a brief run through the main risks.

Working with gas, explosive stuff – of course this is dangerous.

Occasionally heating engineers and/ or other people are injured in gas explosions.

Even if no-one is hurt, the last corgi-registered engineer to work on the appliance or in the house may be held responsible for ensuring gas safety. This is why, much to the annoyance of some customers, if a corgi engineer works in a house he may point out faults which are nothing to do with the work he was employed to do. This is also why a gas inspection of an appliance may take a long time and be costly. This is also why gas engineers may be reluctant to work on appliances that they did not fit or which have not been regularly serviced.

A gas engineer cannot afford to have an ‘off day’. Sloppy, negligent work could result in injury, death and a prison sentence

There is always the risk of accidental damage to a building whilst on the job, any plumber should always be fully insured, just in case. Obviously, a water leak can do a lot of damage. Mr T.P. has seen a plumber set the loft insulation in a roof ablaze. He has also witnessed a case where there was an attempt to blame a fire on a plumber, the fire was actually started by the property owner for a fraudulent insurance claim.

What I found most surprising was that plumbers occasionally have to attend jobs in pairs, for their own safety! These are houses where workers are greeted at the door by housewives in negligées… some of these women are very scary! The men require a chaperone to protect their reputations.

The dangers of employing unqualified and inept…

I enjoyed reading the Gas Installer magazine, yesterday.   I enjoyed it because I was eating chips in the Dalby Cafe at the same time!  There was a full page about the baby-scalding case (my blog ,11 Jan). The article stated the obvious: unqualified and inept people tampering with the plumbing could be dangerous.  

I quote in full from the Institute of Plumbers:   http://www.iphe.org.uk/news/news.html#scald

The chief executive of The Institute of Plumbing and Heating Engineering (IPHE), Blane Judd, was deeply worried by the summing up of the Coroner in the Rhianna Hardie inquest.

“My fear is that by focusing purely on the failure of a particular type of thermostat many members of the public may be confused about the true causes of this catastrophe and the earlier one in 2002.  The facts are that the cold water storage cistern was incorrectly installed and not supported over its full diameter, this in conjunction with the thermostat failure was the reason that the cistern split and boiling water cascaded through the ceiling of baby Rhianna’s bedroom.

“The concern is that due to the use of unqualified plumbing and heating engineers there are many more incorrectly installed cisterns which may remain unchecked as people are being advised to check their thermostat.

“As the standard setting and professional body for the plumbing and heating industry, we provided advice to the government and informed our members immediately on the problem arising from the older style thermostats and inadequate support of the cold water storage cistern.

“What makes me so angry is that cases like this and similar tragedies will continue to happen because the unqualified and inept are allowed into people’s homes to carry out plumbing and heating jobs. The public need to be sure that the people they use to check their systems are professionally qualified and up-to-date.”

The tanks in the roof space have a limited life span and need to be replaced, periodically.  They are designed to cope with boiling water, even though that is not their purpose in life.

I have to say, again, that these are the sort of things that may be neglected when customers opt for tradesmen who offer a half price service. 

Half-price will often make sure you get your heating and hot water.

The going rate charged by reputable firms will make sure you get your heating and hot water AND that it is correctly installed AND that it meets current regulations.  AND you are paying someone who will be aware of the potential dangers and who will take those into consideration. 

A reputable tradesman who knows his stuff will advise you of anything dangerous that he sees in your house.  Even if it is not part of the job he is doing.  Even if he has just come to give you a quote!

Half price man – probably would not recognise dangers unless they were clearly labelled!

Grants are being cut… by the arts council

It’s not just the museums at Margate & Ramsgate which are facing the loss of grants this year.  www.ekmt.fogonline.co.uk

 The Arts Council is cutting funding for many Kent projects:

For example, you can read here what a Thanet based company have to say about their lose of funds:

www.chalkfoot.org.uk/acefunding.html

 The Gulbenkian Theatre in Canterbury is also affected.  www.kent.ac.uk/gulbenkian/

If you are a Thanet Resident who doesn’t know about the saga of the museum funding issues then you need to be looking at recent feeds:

www.thanetbloglist.co.uk/?page_id=58

The blog of Tony Beachcomber (which is almost always fascinating and makes people with metal detectors sound mostly interesting) tells you all you need to know - http://thanetbeachcombers.blogspot.com/2008/02/museums-issue.html 

 More information with a coating of political colours can be found on the various blogs of our councillers. eg

http://birchington.blogspot.com/search/label/Museum

Finally, I have completely revised my What’s On page – which serves at the T.P. family diary for local events.