26
HEALTH AND SANITATION
26
HEALTH AND SANITATION
Sustainability
takes big step
forward at 45th
WorldSkills
Competition
By Mike Flenniken
Champions and experts from more than 30
countries and regions joined efforts to deliver
three new toilets and washrooms to the
Derbyshkinskiy Orphanage.
Reusing some of the materials from the Plumbing and Heating Test
Projects, including the steel frames, pipes, and ceramics, they assembled
the toilet and washrooms at Kazan Expo in a special team project on the
final day of competition, ready for transportation to the orphanage where
they were installed in the days following WorldSkills Kazan 2019.
The new sanitary facilities were officially handed over to the Ministry of Building,
Architecture and Housing Municipal Services of the Republic of Tatarstan (a
republic in the Russian Federation), which was responsible for the selection of
the orphanage, following completion of the installation project on August 29.
Derbyshkinskiy Orphanage, which opened in 1976, today cares for 176 special
needs children and teenagers between the ages of 4 and 23. There are 171 staff
who work at the orphanage, providing rehabilitation to residents including social
adaptation, education, medical care and work experience.
The Plumbing and Heating Champions project was a collaborative effort between
several organisations, including IAPMO — a non-profit standards and certification
industry body — WorldSkills, TECE, the Russian HVAC expert association, and the
Ministry of Building, Architecture and Housing Municipal Services.
International Programme Director with IAPMO — and its charitable arm, IWSH
Foundation — Seán Kearney, who together with colleague Grant Stewart helped
to spearhead this initiative, explains the structure of the project and its focus on
sustainability. Both Kearney and Stewart have personal connections with WorldSkills,
having started out as competitors in 2005 and 1997 respectively.
“The Plumbing and Heating skill competition this year was three days, and then
that was the end of the assessment,” Kearney says. “On day four, we ran a team
project where all competitors and experts worked together to assemble these new
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January 2020 Volume 25 I Number 11