The Institute of Plumbing South Africa (IOPSA) organised a series of plumbing roadshows that emphasised the achievements and benefits of the industry.

The institute national executive director Gary Macnamara and operations manager Steve Brown attended regional events in East London, Port Elizabeth, George and Mossel Bay from the 1 to the 5 June.

The objective of the institute road show is to communicate a common message specific to the direction that IOPSA is heading and the value that the institute has obtained and continues to achieve. In addition the institute gathered insight through meetings held with industry role players. This included engagement with local authority building and water inspectors, construction plumbers and IOPSA regional committees.

The importance of building trust within the industry was emphasised and is paramount to growing the institute and members benefitting directly. Furthermore communication of key areas of value in terms of industry representation indicates that the institute is strong and building even stronger support structures. Brown gave feedback on specific examples where IOPSA members have directly benefited through their institute membership which opened member’s eyes as to ‘what does IOPSA do for us’. 

Macnamara highlighted IOPSA’s recent achievements and the importance of industry compliance, Plumbing Industry Registration Board (PIRB) awareness, Continuing Professional Development (CPD) activities, institute forums, current IOPSA projects and the 2016 World Plumbing Conference in Cape Town.

Consumer communication will be a focus in educating building owners on the value of plumbers and the benefits of using an IOPSA member. This will achieve confidence as consumer’s awareness that they can have recourse through IOPSA. 

The need for effective occupation training and supportive informal training must be a focus to reduce the skills gap created in recent years. In addition engagement with building industry professionals will be a priority in creating awareness of industry concerns and challenges.

A highlight of the trip was delivering training on plumbing standards to the Mossel Bay building inspectors which also gave the inspectors an opportunity to engage with the local PIRB inspectors.

Member feedback from the first regional events was extremely positive with some key concerns highlighted that IOPSA will address in its overall objective to continue being the leading body for plumbing in South Africa.

Huge thanks must be given to regional committees for organising these successful events and the association believes that through the commitment of these volunteers IOPSA will grow from strength to strength. 

IOPSA looks forward to the next road shows happening in Bloemfontein, Johannesburg, Rustenburg, Durban and Cape Town over the next month.

The association will be having at least two roadshows a year to engage and communicate with members and the plumbing industry.

Thanks to sponsors of these past events which included: Apex Valves, Benzomatic, Copper Development Association Africa, Grohe-Dawn Water technology, Hansgrohe, On tap, PIRB, and Plumblink.