ASSOCIATIONS
both of staff and of panel plumbers. We are regularly
consulted by insurance companies on a range of
matters and are becoming entrenched with many as
their industry partners. On three separate occasions,
IOPSA members were given the opportunity to join
insurance panels in specific regions.
Several insurance companies have agreed to
open the ‘rates’ discussion, which has always
been a closed door. This discussion will be based
on independent research that will be conducted
by a university. We are in the process of finding
funding for the study, which will hopefully start in
the next few months.
We have elected to conduct the insurance forum
meetings without using a facilitator. Debbie
Donaldson has always fulfilled this role and I wish
to thank her for her excellent work over the years.
MANUFACTURERS’ FORUM
The manufacturers’ forum has requested IOPSA
to involve itself much more actively in the
development and maintenance of standards.
We are currently looking into this and will report
back in due course.
www.plumbingafrica.co.za
IOPSA TRAINING PROJECTS
The training department within IOPSA has been
extremely busy with the existing projects —
DSPP, COS, Builders Warehouse, and Nedbank.
These projects are progressing well, albeit
that there are some challenges with the DSPP
project. We have only added one additional
project this year, being the Installer, Repairer,
Maintainer (IRM) project for NBI. In terms of
major projects, IOPSA is at capacity and we will
not enter into any major training projects for the
next year. After a thorough financial assessment,
it is clear that IOPSA needs to revise its costing
model; a number of the projects have proved to
be a financial burden. However, their importance
to the industry cannot be underestimated.
IOPSA STRATEGY MOVING FORWARD
The strategy for the coming year remains the
same as that presented in my last report.
• Strengthen the regions; while we have
some incredibly dedicated volunteers in
place, they all have their own businesses
to run and as such are limited in the time
that they can give to IOPSA. If we had
permanent employees in each region to
•
•
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support the volunteer committees and
perform the required day-to-day tasks,
we would achieve far more. Through
the inspectorate we have a possible
mechanism for funding this and we will be
looking closely at how we can make it a
reality as soon as possible.
We have to grow our membership. At
700-odd members we are not truly
representative of the market as a whole.
Over the past few years we have developed
several great products such as App Plumber,
LMS App, electronic and print newsletters,
jobs portal, Facebook, and the website. We
have never really leveraged the income-
generating possibilities of these products.
IOPSA needs to further develop alternatives
to membership fees as income streams and
these products provide an ideal opportunity
for IOPSA to earn some marketing income.
In conclusion, IOPSA is in a very good position.
The industry as a whole is experiencing very tough
conditions and we hope that if we can continue to
add real value to our members, we will continue to
see growth, even in these tough times. PA
May 2019 Volume 25 I Number 3