drain TRADER
programmes. In many sectors there are few if any generic courses which is potentially an area of concern. Some suppliers and manufacturers are looking howto change this in order to simplify the sector training requirements. It could also mean that manufacturers‘courses’could be reduced to the basics of machine or equipment operation if a generic course covering safety aspects, operational procedures etc. has already been
completed.This could enable operators to be off-site for shorter periods if the need is simply due to a change of product usage or design. One company that is currently expanding its training offering is Graf UK with specifiers, merchants and distributors set to join installers in learning about Graf UK systems. At a time when many drainage systems manufacturers’training offer extends to one-hour CPDs, Graf UK is investing a minimum of a half-day training to ensure customers are kept abreast of ever-evolving regulations and the wide variety of options available. The company is rallying in the face of Covid-19 adversity and pressing ahead with plans to extend its half-day and full-day training courses on wastewater, rainwater and stormwater solutions frominstallers to specifiers, merchants and distributors. The company, which has a dedicated training centre at its Banbury headquarters, introduced as-and-when training courses for installers some 18 months ago and due to demand, and the recent change in the General Binding Rules, had just enhanced this to monthly seminars when lockdownwas declared. Nowthese are running again, the company will also be offering architects, merchants and distributors the opportunity to learn about its innovative and cost-effectivewastewater, rainwater and stormwater solutions, using life-size and miniatureworking models. During the courses, discussion and open debate are encouraged as Graf UK uses the feedback to tweak and adapt its products, systems and operations to optimise its service delivery for customers fromall sectors. The company’s sales staff often attend so they can get the feedback first- hand. Technical product specialist David Stagg said:“It is always interesting and beneficial to hear frominstallers and service providers howtheywork, whatworkswell for them and where theymay have
problems.The more wework with them and develop relationships, the more it reaps dividends for all involved.” Classroomtraining is followed by some practical learning with rainwater guru Jamie Rolph who hasworked closely with Graf UK for several years, commissioning and servicing its wastewater and rainwater harvesting
systems.This hands-on element uses theworking models in the display area. The training seminars for architects and specifiers will focus on howGraf UK’s in-house technical team can help in the early design stage of projects, howthe systems are engineered and produced to the highest quality standards, and howthe company’s lifetime support plan minimises risk for specifiers by giving end users peace of mind throughout a product’s design life. If an end user uses a Graf UK accredited service provider, the company increases the warranty on technology fromtwo to three years. Training courses for Approved Service Providers involve classroomand practicalwork aswell as field trips to a minimum of two live Graf wastewater treatment systems to run through inmore detail their workings and what is required to service or troubleshoot them. Successful delegates are presented with a certificate, Graf ID card and Graf tool kit. Former mechanical engineer Bryan Gynn completed Graf UK’s approved service provider course in January. He had already installed three Graf sewage treatment plants on a building site within a critical drainage area
14 drain TRADER | September 2020 |
www.draintraderltd.com
in Launceston, Cornwall,
UK.The systems, which included space-saving infiltration tunnels for the drainage field, met all planning and Building Regulations approval andwere signed off by Cornwall Council’s drainage team. Bryan said:“The training fromGraf UK has helped gain similar approvals for six more building sites nearby within the critical drainage area and with limited roomfor a drainage field. Anyoneworking within this field and having to comply with the new General Binding Rules (rightly in place to protect water quality, and conform to Building Regulations that are seriously outdated)would find immediate value inworking with Graf products and attending their seminars and training courses.” He added:“On the back of the information received fromGraf and Graf technical, I have set up a new company, ChappleWaterManagement, and Iamvery confident of future successworking with Graf products available for immediate delivery here in Cornwall.” Graf UK also provides in-depth, in-branch staff training for builders’ merchants and distributors.
THE FUTURE
For decades takingworkers off site to attend training course was often seen as a‘necessary evil’by many employers costing time and money and lost production which could do little but ultimately affect the company’s bottomline
performance.Then industrywoke up! Today, not only dowe have an increasingly skilledworkforce that can do more, in less time, at a much higher level of quality control and far more safely than before,we also have employers that nowsee the full effectiveness and efficiency that such aworkforce brings to the industry. However, with the multitude of training accreditations that can and often are displayed by companies for their clients to see just howwell trained theirworkforce is, for those not directly involved with the larger scale clientele it just becomes a mush of often meaningless logos. The effort to simplify this state of affairs with the introduction of something like Drainsafe could be seen a major step forward particularly when dealing with the non-water sector client base, individuals and commercial managers who really currently have little if any idea of what they are looking at. But there is potentially the danger of the scheme just becoming another one of the many, particularly if its award criteria, even if required by theTrading Standards Institute, are limited to just a certain organisation’s members. The industry must be careful to ensure that such a scheme is open to all that might need such an accreditation so that thework completed by those in the sector can be seen to effective, high quality and safe across the board and not just associated with another one of those logos. Simplifying quality control and safety through training to a country-wide recognised scheme is highly desirable but it cannot exclude those in the sector that, due to the costs and other aspects of the various memberships and accreditations they already have to bear,may not wish to be forced into another‘membership’to qualify them for any new scheme theymay otherwise not to take. Such away forward needs to be introduced correctly first time if it is to be as effective as it is hoped. Recognition of other similar industry organisation membershipsmay need to be addressed as onemay feel this is uncompetitive to the industry training market.
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