Gas Licensing

Stephen Nugent

Well put, but you forget our state motto "Live free or Die"
The odds of getting the legislature to pass a law prohibiting the purchase of heating equipment is nill. Besides the Home Depots's and Lowe's of the world have far more lobby money than we could ever gather. Again I don't want you all to think I'm bagging on NATE. They do good work and provide a good product. What I'm against is the legislative end run around the real issue of forming an actual "Board" to handle the issue. I have serious doubts as to the Fire Marshals office being able to properly handle the project.

Stephen Nugent

Amelias Law

House Bill 1711 – Amelia’s Law


Some times, at an emotional moment what seems like a good idea can turn out to be anything but. In January of 2003 a tragic accident took the life of five year old Amelia. You can go to their web site and read all the details. Because of this tragedy legislation sponsored by house rep Bonnie Mitchell, House rep Sheila Francour and Sen. Kenney was introduced and subsequently passed by the New Hampshire legislature. This bill is house bill number 1711 and has been appropriately titled “Amelia’s law”
Until the passage of this bill those of us working in the HVAC and plumbing trades have relied on self diligence and the text of no less than four codes relating to the field. The International plumbing code, The National Fuel Gas code, The International Mechanical code and NFPA 31. All four of these texts are inclusive of just about any and all situations that may occur in the installation and servicing of gas fired equipment and appliances. Certified, Licensed or not, failure to adhere to the standards set forth in these texts constitutes clear liability and responsibility by the individual and company performing the work.
Amelia’s law has placed the licensing and testing of individuals in the hands of the State Fire Marshals office. Unlike other state licensing boards there will be no “board” per se and no state inspectors. The responsibility for permitting and inspection will be left to the various towns and municipalities. The Fire Marshals office is currently working on plans to implement testing and the latest permutation seems to be no less than six separate “licenses or certificates” to install or service gas equipment. A current read of their web site makes mention to the involvement of NATE (North American Technician Excellance) as a provider of the necessary tests. As I understand it in order to be NATE certified an individual first needs to study for and pass the “Core” exam and upon successful completion he may then study for and test for other areas of skill. NATE itself does not offer study instruction, that is left to other organizations sponsored by NATE, and that information can be found on NATE’s web site. It is hard to get an exact cost per study guide and then the test itself, suffice to say that if we indeed need to have six separate licenses than there will be six study guides, six tests and the core examination. I think it’s fair to say that the cost per service man would be a couple thousand at best. Just to up the ante the certifications are only good for five years and then you must re-test. Also, because the Fire Marshall office has placed permitting and compliance with local inspectors I think it’s fair to say that a good many of them will also have to study for and take the appropriate NATE exams. Funded no doubt by the taxpayer.
So where is all of this leading? Well when things don’t add up I like to follow the money. It would appear that if this law is allowed to stand as written, the only real beneficiaries will be the NATE testing organization and it’s partners that provide the study guides or courses. In fact if you add up all of those requiring certification I again think it’s fair to say NATE stands to make several hundred thousand dollars over the next few years.
Why then do we need this law? Will it protect the consumer? In Amelia’s case, the botched work was performed by other than HVAC or plumbing trades. Unless the state is willing to commit the recourses necessary to inform all of the carpenters, flooring contractors, handy men, painters, contractors and whom ever else might be performing work of the implications of Amelia’s law then this tragedy could very likely happen again.
The truth is that there are very few cases of personal injury, property damage or death that can be directly attributed to negligence or carelessness on the part of service men and installers. Our industry has always done a more than adequate job of policing ourselves. As I previously stated, we are bound by the legal text of four State adopted codes. Failure to comply is actionable in a court of law. The text of Amelia’s law will do no more to establish liability that the current laws. In fact it will be the consumers themselves that will bear the brunt of the cost of implementing Amelia’s law in the form of higher service and installation costs. After all the contractors are going to defer their costs.
I am by no means attempting to diminish the tragic loss of Amelia’s family. I have children of my own and cannot imagine having to deal with their loss, but this law as it stands has too many problems. After all it went into effect a month ago and as of now the Fire marshals office is still trying to sort it all out. Historically the State has been opposed to forming licensing boards of any kind, witness the many attempts and failures to implement an oil burner service licensing board. Truth be known though if the legislators really want to go ahead with licensing than perhaps a board inclusive of both gas and oil burning appliances should be formed, with the proper officers, inspectors and legislative over site.

These last two paragraphs have been copied directly from the State Fire Marshals web site. Please read them carefully and fully understand the implications therein. The first sentence of the first paragraph certainly begs the question as to the need for this bill.

Stephen Nugent
NH Master 3015
Instructor, Huot Technical Training Ctr. Laconia NH.

The current State Fire Code already provides the mechanisms to ensure that installations are performed by qualified individuals. We hope that local officials will continue to use that existing process when reviewing plans for the installation of gas utilization equipment.

The division has been working with the North American Technician Excellence (NATE) to discuss their testing process and testing content integrity. A few members of the NH Advisory Committee were asked to assist with this process. This workshop was closed to the public in order to maintain the integrity of the test question content initiated by NATE. A follow up work session has been scheduled for the last week in December.

http://www.amiliaslaw.org/

http://www.nh.gov/safety/divisions/firesafety/certifications/GasFittersLaw.html

http://www.nh.gov/plumbing/

http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/legislation/2006/HB1711.html

http://www.natex.org/

Ken_40

Stehen,

You gotta put a few paragraph breaks in that thing. These old eyes glazed over after the first inch...

I assume you did a copy/paste? Go back and edit that thing or the responses you seek will be minimal.

JMHO

Mark Hunt

Just read the story


on Amelia's Law.

I agree with you 100% that had this law been in place, it would not have stopped this horrible event from happening.

Unfortunately, the politicians do not care about results, they care only about appearances.

Mark H

To Learn More About This Professional, Click Here to Visit Their Ad in "Find A Professional"

Mitch_6

Long read makes it hard to follow

In mass we have licensing and inspection. I believe in the two part system in theory that a second person somehow checks the first persons work. Both for unintentional or intentional omissions or mistakes.

Myself I look forward to meeting with the inspectors and find them a good source of info. we are often in our own world and the inspectors see alot more than just the individual installer.

One problem is interpretation of code and the gray areas between the triads Plumber/Gas fitter, electrician, pipe fitter, oil tech, builder and HNAC tech. For small jobs one person does the work of others therefore braking the code in theory (ie. how many people to install a hydro air oil or gas system with domestic hot water)

Our system is good but still needs improvement.

Mitch S.

To Learn More About This Professional, Click Here to Visit Their Ad in "Find A Professional"

GW

government

I'm not political. I have a hunch that people will still die even when the most stringent laws or certification processes take place.

What if the world's smartest tech sets up a furnace and the next day some handiman does something to comprimise the operation? A drugged out teenager can crank the gas pressure with his dads screwdriver. A father-in-law tells his son-in-law to "jump those two wires for tonight and get a heating guy there tomorrow... don't pay those after-hours fees!". Anyone who thinks this can all be taken care of with a few laws is an idiot, no harm intended.

I think some good heating companies will go down in flames because of the broken system we have. I can only hope it's not me or you.

To Learn More About This Professional, Click Here to Visit Their Ad in "Find A Professional"

Ken D.

Licensing

My problem with licensing is that the politicians make feel good laws that are essentially, unenforcable. Unless an inspector follows a tradesman around 24 hours a day,(this is assuming the inspector doesn't make mistakes) no one will ever know just what was done. The job could have been done wrong, but will come to light only if or when something bad happens. By then it is too late. The tradgedy has already happened. Just having a license does not prevent mistakes. Nor does it deter negligence, laziness, incompetence, deliberate unlawful acts, etc. I know of many rip offs that were rip offs before licensing and are now rip offs with licenses. I, and probably most everybody else have seen jobs approved without the inspector ever setting a foot in the house. One outfit I know of is totally incompetent, but continue on because of relationships with the local pols. The Fire Marshal is taking care of all this? The fact that the Fire Marshal is a political job does not give me confidence. Also how technical is the Fire Marshal? It would seem to me the job would be better served by an independent trade organization such as the many that are currently around. In another life, I was a volunteer fireman for 15 years. The local Fire Marshal was a laborer on the township road crew before he was FM and is not what I call astute in the technical areas of anything. That's politics. And with the nightmares I have seen homeowners pull off makes me wonder if we, as professional mechanics are going to be made responsible for these DIY fiascoes. This is all a rambling lament as nothing will be done anyway. It is the working man that is responsible for all the world's ills.

Stephen Nugent

lest every one misunderstand me, I am not against licensing per se. I currently hold four master plumbing licenses, two oil heat service licenses and a universal RSES license. I think licensing can be a good a valid thing. What I am against is the way in which this legislation was drafted. The Fire Marshals office is not equipped to adequatly enforce the law. What will happen is that in the larger cities the local inspectors will most likly get the necessary education and tools for enforcement, while the smaller towns will not. All the while NATE and it's partners will be collecting the wind fall. As I said in my article, if the state wants to pass a gas and fuel oil license than they need to do it right. Form a board and promulgate rules and laws of their own and not leave it to third party activists.

Unknown

Steve the simple truth is

I offered the state of New Hampshire my services and my educational expertise in the area of gas training. They refused to even discuss it with me as I was not from New Hampshire and quote "I would not understand the circumstances of how gas works in New Hampshire being from Rhode Island." Same thing in Mass there it was that I did not have a Mass liscense and they do not appreciate anyone teaching in Mass who is not liscensed by the state.

The irony of all of this is that over the last 14 years that I have been in business for myself and operating my training center we have had over 400 techs from New Hampshire go through our one week seminar, not counting the 12 times I have traveled to NH and conducted seminars. Mass is an other matter all together as we have had over 4,000 techs come through our program including training KeySpan, NStar, Bay State, Colonial Gas etc. The sad thing is that none of my training is accepted by those states toward liscensing or even CEU's. With over 40 years in the gas industry and 31 years as an educator you would think they would give some recognition. It is not a money thing with me as I am more than adequately compensated by the fee we charge for training. It is my take however that testing without training is not a fair way to go.

Finally the real answer to eliminating the death of little girls and boys in our communities is good training. Then to protect those who are trained and doing a good job establish a requirement that no one can purchase boilers, furnaces or water heaters with out a liscense and a permit.

lchmb

Unfortunately

Tim, it's not a matter of what's known or not. It's a matter of the "ole boy" group. Either way you shake it, this licensing is turning into nothing more than a way for someone to make a buck. IMHO... I wish something would come through to change my feeling's on this but