What does CPD mean for the future of the plumbing industry?
Continuing Professional Development for Plumbers
The Victorian plumbing industry is in the midst of a big change. We, as plumbers and plumbing professionals, have a choice to make; decide to stick with the current CPD model (Continuing Plumbing Demise) or embrace the new model of CPD – Continuing Professional Development.
Continuing Professional Development (CPD) is not a new phrase and has been adopted by many industries in the decades following World War II when institutional bodies identified a need for structured further learning post formal qualification.
The Master Plumbers and Mechanical Services Association Victoria has been running a CPD program for its members and their employees since 2019 with great success with over 4,000 participants. They recognised early on that the industry needed more and have been lobbying to Government for years to introduce a higher learning program, as a minimum, to empower plumbers and protect consumers.
CPD It is summed up perfectly by CPDUK as ‘a commitment to ongoing lifelong learning that enables learning to become conscious and proactive rather than passive and reactive’.
Learning can include training courses, seminars, workshops, conferences and events, webinars and online eLearning programs. CPD can also include sharing best practice techniques, thoughts and ideas, all focused towards an individual improving within the work environment.
It is no longer enough to simply complete a 4 year plumbing apprenticeship where you get all your basic training theory and practical, sit your journeyman’s exam, obtain your registration as a practicing plumber under a licenced plumber and if you (some would say are silly enough to) obtain your plumbing licence and start your own business. The learning does not, and should not, end at this point.
Plumbers follow a set of rules to ensure their work is compliant; the three documents that form the plumbing regulatory framework in Victoria are –
These documents are perpetually changing and getting updated. If a plumber completed their license in the 1990’s and hadn’t updated the plumbing regs they’d follow since then, it’s very likely that some of their work wouldn’t be compliant and they could be in a lot of trouble with the Victorian Building Authority (VBA). CPD is not only formalised courses and workshops but keeping up with current plumbing regulations and standards. Australian Plumbing Standards are available to purchase from SAI Global. Whilst we personally have an opinion that standards should be free (why should we have to pay to have access to the rules we need to abide by?) unfortunately they are not. It’s worth noting as Master Plumbers Victoria members we have access to the SAI Platform to access a copy of the full plumbing standards.
Our industry has over 200 streams of ‘plumbing’, to which most are just on the job training, taught from the elder generations and passed down. Today’s fast paced society, coupled with our youths current perception of inspirational people being made up of influencers and Esports gamers, instead of the everyday heroes keeping our World’s infectious diseases to a minimum by ensuring water quality and sewer systems run effectively and efficiently has led to a shortage of suitably qualified tradesmen retained within the industry.
This is one of the reasons why we need CPD; we require courses, seminars and workshops that will inspire our youth to stay in this amazing industry through a proactive approach rather than the passive or reactive approach that we have at the moment. We have the opportunity to inspire a whole new generation of plumbers to stay in the industry post apprenticeship by inspiring them with what their future in plumbing can be.
Gail Sheehy once stated ‘if we don’t change, we don’t grow. If we don’t grow, we aren’t really living’. I’ve managed a lot of plumbers over the years and getting them to embrace change has always been a challenge. Change is inevitable, but we find it is received more positively when our plumbers are given ample time to digest the change, given them the reasons for the change and encourage feedback and suggestions.
I feel an overhaul of the CPD program is inevitable, but also believe plumbers should help shape what the change looks like and keep abreast of these changes. The Department of Transport and Planning have released a Regulatory Impact Statement (RIS). There are only a few days left to participate by either uploading a formal submission or completing a survey found here. I encourage everyone in the plumbing industry to complete the survey and have a voice during the changes impacting our industry.
