Heating, Ventilation Air Conditioning Union Plumber/ Pipe Fitter local 7

Heating, Ventilation Air Conditioning Union Plumber/ Pipe Fitter local 7

Introduction

There are several systems that regulate temperature, air quality as well as ventilating residential houses and industrial buildings. These systems are designed to make life easy adding some pleasure to residential houses and commercial buildings plus manufacturing buildings. To install these systems we need specialists who a part from installing them, can repair and offer maintenance services. These specialists are Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) technicians/ plumbers or pipe fitters. Heating and air conditioning appliances consist of many mechanical and electrical components such as thermostats, switches, motors and transformers. Technicians tend to either specialize in maintenance or installation although they train on both. Some even go further to specialize only in single equipment. Technicians may work for large or small companies while others prefer to work directly with system manufacturers. Few of them on the other hand work privately but in this case, they only offer maintenance services.

Pay scale

The average monthly earnings of heating, air conditioning and refrigeration experts who worked time was about $2 144 in 1996. The lowest earning recorded was not less than $ 1148 per month while the highest earners got about $ 3548 per month. Apprentices begun with a salary of about 50% of what experts earn but as they learn on job and perfect their skills, they receive a constant wage increment until they reach a wage rate of the experts. HVAC technicians benefit from a variety of employer initiated privileges in addition to their salary. These include health insurance schemes; retirement pension schemes, transport costs and other companies even pay for their training and provide uniforms free of charge.

There are unions which work with the employers to ensure that members receive just working conditions and apart from a fair salary that the employees are provided with safer working conditions free of health hazards. On average it’s estimated that about one out of six HVAC technicians is a Union member. The union to which most technicians subscribe is the Pipefitting and Plumbing Industry of the United States of America Apprentices.

Job earnings and average growth between 1998 and 2008 is approximated as plus 46.2% for heating, ventilation technician and plus 12.5% for HVAC supervisors. Hourly earnings are approximated at $ 12.50 for HVAC technician and HVAC supervisors earn an average wage of $ 17.58.

Working Conditions

HVAC technicians generally work 40 hours a week and during high season they work overtime or irregular hours. Most companies strive to provide a full work week throughout the year and currently require that technicians sign service contracts and performance contracts. Maintenance experts sometimes work during the weekend or in the evenings shifts and are at all times on call (Monster 2008)

HVAC technicians’ work places include homes, offices, industries, commercial buildings and even hospitals. HVAC workers are sometimes exposed to harsh working conditions like working outside in the cold or hot environmental conditions or in buildings in which air conditioning equipment is spoilt. Other risky places include operating in confined space or very high places. Health hazards involved in these working situations include muscle strains, electrical shock, burns and even falling of equipment. To avoid risks associate with these situations workers are required to ensure that they put on protective gear whenever they are working. Overalls, masks, goggles, helmets are some of the protective gear worn.

Job Requirement and Education

Anybody wishing to work as a HVAC technician should have the following skills and abilities; knowledge in electrical work and plumbing skills, good in shop mathematics, applied physics mechanical drawing and electronics, some knowledge in chemistry, blue print reading and should be computer literate. Due to increasing use improvement in technology, a basic knowledge of microelectronics has become a crucial requirement. And finally since HVAC deal directly with customers, courtesy and good public relation skills are an added advantage and of course they should be in good health.

Improved technology and sophistication in heating and air conditioning systems, has prompted employers to look for those workers with apprenticeship and technical school training. A reasonable number of HVAC workers still learn the profession informally anyway. Technical schools, community colleges and armed forces provide training programs in theory, electronics, design and equipment construction. They also teach on basics which include repairs, maintenance and installation. (Monster 2008)

Apprentice programs are also available and are run by joint committees that represent requirements of governing bodies like the Mechanical Contractors of America, the National Association of Plumbing Heating Cooling Contractors among others. Applicants are required to be holders of high school diploma or its equivalent. Other delicate materials like handling or working with refrigerants demand that technicians involved should be certified with proper handling, to obtain this certification a technician have to pass a on paper examination in the particular place of work they are to be involved. There are three basic areas of certification; type 1- deals with maintaining small appliances, type 2- deals with high pressure refrigerants and type 3- deals low pressure refrigerants. Their examinations are administered by bodies official granted that authority by the Environmental Protection Agency such as Contractor Associations, Trade Unions and schools (learnpr, 2008).

There is no formal training for certification but training programs are formulated to prepare apprentices and students for certification examination and for general improvement of skills. The trainings are basically offered by manufacturers of heating and air conditioning equipments; the Air conditioning Contractors of America (ACCA); the National Association of Plumbing Heating Cooling Contractor; and the United Association of Plumbers and Pipe fitters. Apart from the knowledge on refrigerant products and technicians are required to understand the legitimate use and regulations that govern these products. Recently, new official recognition programs have been created for technicians; they are the North American Technician Excellence Program sponsored by a partnership of associations on behalf of all sectors of the trade. The other is supported by Air Conditioning Contractors of America (ACCA) and Ferris University in Big Rapids in Michigan.  The programs are optional means of rating worker competency. (Monster 2008).

Opportunities for Advancement

 Advancement normally follows increase in salary. Those who undergo on job training acquire their skills by assisting experienced technicians. They start by performing uncomplicated errands such as carrying tools, materials cleaning and insulating wire lines. With time they get to understand difficult tasks which may be such as soldering, inspection electronic and electric circuits and also cutting metals. Others may take certification exams to improve their pay and enhance their theoretical understanding. With need for higher wages, some technicians may advance to supervisor position or service managers. There is also diversity room where others opt to become sales men or marketers. With enough money at hand one can become an entrepreneur and decide to run their own firms

Job Outlook

In 1996, HVAC Technicians held about 256 100 jobs and more than 50% of these worked for heating and cooling contractors. The rest were employed by other firms in related trade all over the country (USA), these show the extensive reliance on ambiance controlling system. (Careersprep, 2008)Others worked for oil dealers in repair shops, refrigeration and air conditioning services and about one out seven HVAC technicians were self employed. Job prospects for experienced and highly skilled technicians especially from formal apprenticeship and technical school training to service new models remodel and to install is likely to increase rapidly.

With growth in economy as well as population, employment of HVAC Technicians increased rapidly by 2006. This was because there was an increase in demand for new residential, industrial and commercial ambience control system. Repair and maintenance work remain stable throughout the year regardless of economic position compared to installation which depend on improved economic condition that encourage purchase of new systems.(Careerprep, 2008)

Human Resource Person

There are about 500 human recourse consultants on the internet and one of the sites is http://la.oodle.com/job-construction

Conclusion

HVAC technician as a profession has improved a great deal embracing new technology. Other prospects for improvement focus on energy saving heating and air conditioning systems. This will lead to replacement of older systems with installation of new ones. As a result demand for installation will increase. An on going focus on ensuring high quality air conditioning is expected to encourage growth of demand for HVAC technicians. New inventions will improve the whole sectors work opportunity as in these will increase services of installation, maintenance and repair technicians.

References

http://jobveiw.monster.com/getjob retrieved on Thursday 30th October 2008 at 10.00 am

http://www.careersprep.com/main.htlm retrieved on Thursday 30th October 2008 at 9.30 am

 http://jobprofiles.monter.com/control/jobscontent retrieved on Wednesday 29th at 6.30 pm

http://www.learnpr.com/hvac retrieved on Thursday October 30, 2008at 8.40 am