Plumbing Connection Spring 2016

PLUMBING CONNECTION

SPRING 2016 27

and inspected 1500 products for sale,” Peter said.

“WELS compliance has initiated a second phase

of inspections where registration details and model

identification is the focus, improvements have been made

and it will take time to transform this market.”

Session two after morning tea focused primarily on active

enforcement in the marketplace and the various roles and

tasks at hand for JAS-ANZ (The Joint Accreditation System

of Australia and New Zealand (JAS-ANZ), VBA (Victorian

Building Authority) and GTRC (National Gas Technical

Regulators Committee).

Jarrod Edwards had three key points for delegates to take

away with them when it comes to regulation and compliance

which should be extended to the plumbing industry as a whole:

∫ Establish local knowledge: understand the mandatory

requirements and know the limitations of your product or

service

∫ Support to comply: ensure design detail and specification

is adequate, make information available and share

relevant corporate knowledge

∫ Engage with the regulator: Discuss innovation and share

observations.

A necessary break for lunch was not only required to get

some much needed fuel but to also consume the regulatory-

centric information delivered during the morning sessions.

Following on from the break, senior vice president IAPMO

Group Megan Lehtonen discussed the work of IAPMO on a

global scale and shared the various mandatory requirements

and enforcement mechanisms in the US, Mexico, Canada,

Europe, India and Indonesia.

Back by popular demand was a representative of Housing

Industry Association to provide a comprehensive up-to-

date economic presentation on how Australia’s building and

renovation market is travelling and what it meant to local

businesses.

Some of the key points to take from senior economist

Shane Garrett’s presentation were the facts that residential

building is propping growth up while non-residential

construction is still relatively weak. New home builds had

also peaked in December 2015, up to around 220,000, far

exceeding the previous peak of December 2010 at around

180,000.

Final speakers on the day lightened the mood somewhat

by sharing success stories from an Australian

Quality without compromise