[stocktake]

Agree wholeheartedly with the above, My apprenticeship was 5yr at BGas, no short cuts. Worked for them 15yr and then had the opportunity for promotion externally so I took it.

Manpower was at a premium with Gas Engineers commanding a premium price, then, whilst I was in in Contract Management ACOPS was introduced it was a joke. We had Rolls Royce production line assembly workers turning up for a job working on gas and with the correct ACOPS qualification, didn't know one end of a U tube gauge from the other.

Later on when working with Corgi and then with Gas Safe the amount of "competent" individuals we had to pursue grew daily.

We also had to explain that the passage of time was no defence of not following installation instructions current at time of installation. This was even if the appliance had been subsequently serviced and no installation faults recorded. ( It just meant we had more people to chase..)

We successfully chased companies and individuals back through the years to either obtain a return to install to correct guidelines, or invoiced them for the work required. ( Working closely with a Government contract department at the time did help a little)

On the other hand as well as the trained in a day brigade ( Try explaining Cross ventilation to one of them) there was also the seasoned installer who read the Inst inst on the first appliance they fitted and then never read them again, whereby missing the changes in Installation requirements, External condensate installation is a typical example.

Glad I have just retired from it all, I started when I was 15. One of the low points was being called as an expert witness relating to the death of a person due to CO poisoning shortly after an appliance had just been serviced. That will always live with me, recreating the conditions in the property that caused the death was harrowing.