Skip to main content
Facilitate Magazine: Informing Workplace and Facilities Management Professionals - return to the homepage Facilitate magazine logo
  • Search
  • Visit Facilitate Magazine on Facebook
  • Visit Facilitate Magazine on LinkedIn
  • Visit @Facilitate_Mag on Twitter
Visit the website of the Institute of Workplace and Facilities Management Logo of the Institute of Workplace and Facilities Management

Main navigation

  • Home
  • News
    • Comment
    • People
    • Reports
    • Research
  • Features
    • Analysis
    • Features
    • Round Tables
    • Webinars
  • Outsourcing
    • Contract Finder
    • Contracts
    • FM Business Models
    • Interviews
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Opinion
    • Procurement
    • Trends
  • Know-How
    • Explainers
    • Legal Updates
    • White Papers
  • Jobs
  • Topics
    • Workplace Services
      • Hospitality
      • Catering
      • Cleaning
      • Front of House
      • Grounds Maintenance
      • Helpdesk
      • Mailroom
      • Manned Guarding / Security
      • Pest Control
      • Washroom Services
      • Disaster Recovery
      • Specialist Services
    • Professional Performance
      • Behavioural Change
      • Continual Professional Development
      • Education
      • Management
      • Recruitment
      • Training
    • Workplace Performance
      • Benchmarking
      • Health & Wellbeing
      • Operational Readiness
      • Procurement
      • Security
      • Workplace User Experience
      • Workplace Culture
    • Compliance
      • Health & Safety
      • Risk & Business Continuity
      • Standards
      • Statutory Compliance
    • Building Services
      • Architecture & Construction
      • Asset Management
      • Building Controls
      • Building Fabric
      • Drinking Water
      • Fire Protection
      • HVAC
      • Landscaping
      • Mechanical & Electrical
      • Building Security
      • Water, Drainage & Plumbing
    • Technology
      • Building Information Modelling
      • CAFM
      • Data & Networks
      • Document Management
      • Information Management
      • Internet of Things (IoT)
      • Software & Systems
    • Energy management
      • Energy Management Systems
      • Electricity
      • Gas
      • Solar
      • Wind
    • Sustainability
      • Environmental Quality
      • Social Value
      • Waste Management
      • Recycling
    • Workspace Design
      • Agile Working
      • Fit-Out & Refurbishment
      • Inclusive Access
      • Lighting
      • Office Interiors
      • Signage
      • Space Planning
      • Storage
      • Vehicle Management / Parking
      • Washroom
    • Sectors
      • Corporate Office
      • Education
      • Healthcare
      • Manufacturing
      • International
      • Retail
      • Sports & Leisure
      • Regions
  • Buyers' Guide
Quick links:
  • Home
  • Sections
  • News

Brexit ‘could help drive out rogue operatives’

Open-access content Monday 18th January 2021
Authors
Herpreet Kaur Grewal
web_air-conditioning_credit_KenKitti-shutterstock_333307565.png

Ken Kitti-Shutterstock

The UK’s departure from the EU creates an opportunity “to finally deal with the rogue operatives who continue to plague the refrigeration and air conditioning sector”, according to the Building Engineering Services Association (BESA).

The UK will continue to mirror the rules set by the European F-Gas regulations to drive reductions in harmful emissions from refrigeration and air conditioning equipment, but Brexit gives it the freedom to go further by setting up a national register of individual operatives, argues the body.

It says that this has “long been regarded as a way to tackle the problem of unqualified people carrying out sub-standard work by making it harder for them to buy equipment and refrigerant gas” but that “it was never a priority for the EU and was dropped from the original plans for the F-Gas regulations”.

BESA’s head of technical, Graeme Fox, told a recent BESA webinar: “Our European partners never saw the need for such a register. We lobbied for it in the early days, but most European countries don’t have the same problem we have because they have much stricter rules about who can set up a business.

“Here the barriers to entry into technical professions are very low, which means pretty much anyone can set up a contracting business. Not being able to do a job has not stopped people winning a job in this country.”

Some individual engineers can be traced through the mandatory REFCOM register of companies, but the industry has a very transient workforce and operatives change employers frequently.

Many of the small units used in residential applications come pre-charged with flammable refrigerant gas and BESA is concerned that these remain too easy for DIYers and unqualified installers to buy – particularly online. 

A mandatory certification scheme would help because suppliers could only sell to those on the register.

Online forums have helped the Environment Agency identify several instances of poor standard work and prosecute offenders, but currently, the only register of operatives is a voluntary one run by the Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Industry Board (ACRIB). Creating a mandatory scheme would also underpin the push for higher professional standards and improved training across the sector.

However, it is not just the rogue installers who present a problem, according to Fox. Many qualified installers also need retraining and upskilling. This problem is shared by the rest of Europe – former EU partners are equally concerned that the lack of skills will hinder the uptake of new lower GWP gases.

“Although City & Guilds qualifications do not require renewal on a regular basis in the same way that other types of qualification do, the underpinning knowledge and requirements of certification that drive the standards change over time. Without reassessment and renewal courses there is the very real possibility of working practices becoming obsolete and outdated,” said Fox.

Many engineers have upskilled already by taking the BESA ACRIB Flammables training course, but there remain many thousands of engineers without the basic skills needed to transition safely.

Image credit | Ken Kitti-Shutterstock


 

Filed in
News

You might also like...

Share
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Linked in
  • Mail
  • Print

Today's top reads

 

Latest Jobs

Regional Facilities Manager

Borehamwood
Circa £47,000 + Decent Package & opportunities
Reference
59410

Facilities Manager

Hertfordshire
Up to £75,000 + Decent Package
Reference
59408

Facilities Manager

Guildford
Up to £45,000 + Package & Opportunities
Reference
59407
See all jobs »

 

 

Sign up to our newsletter

News, jobs and updates

Sign up

Subscribe to print

Sign up to receive our bi-monthly magazine

Subscribe
Facilitate magazine cover, June 2020
​
FOLLOW US
@Facilitate_Mag
Facilitate Magazine
Facilitate Magazine
CONTACT US
Contact us
Tel: 020 7880 6200
​

IWFM

About IWFM
Become a member
Qualifications
Events

Information

Privacy Policy
Terms & Conditions
Cookie Policy
Think Green

Get in touch

Contact us
Advertise with us
Subscribe to Facilitate Magazine
Write for Facilitate Magazine

General

IWFM Jobs
Help

© 2023 • www.facilitatemagazine.com and Facilitate Magazine are published by Redactive Media Group. All rights reserved. Reproduction of any part is not allowed without written permission.

Redactive Media Group Ltd, 71-75 Shelton Street, London WC2H 9JQ