If you have a passion for plumbing like I do, you most likely read as much as you can about the subject. The variety of what I read can range from new products to plumbers’ opinions on certain topics. I enjoy it all. 

As I was reading an article from a colleague who teaches plumbing apprenticeship at a different college, he wrote about his favorite code citation, which really put me back in my seat to think. What is my favorite code citation? For each person, this can be on the total opposite sides of our code book, and whatever your favorite code citation is, that is the right one for you. 

Personally, mine is SPS 382.015. That code citation reads “the purpose of this chapter is to provide that all plumbing in connections with buildings and facilities in the state, including buildings owned by the state or any political subdivision thereof, shall be safe, sanitary and such as to safeguard the public health and the waters of the state.”

What a bold statement to put on us plumbers. Essentially, we have to make sure that no person gets sick from our installs and that we don’t contaminate any water throughout our state. A mentor of mine once said that plumbing was the most noble profession in the world, and after reading that, I think he may be right! 

This goes for all plumbers regardless of what you may actually do in your everyday job. From preventing cross connections, to requiring an indirect waste connection, to water distribution materials, to discharging wastewater effluent back into the earth via a private onsite wastewater treatment system, I could go on and on.

PROPER TRAINING NEEDED

In order for us to even attempt to follow any of our code citations we need the proper training. Most states either require an apprenticeship or work experience under the direct supervision of a licensed plumber. 

The training, both inside the classroom and out in their daily duties, is so valuable to the plumbing profession. This is no simple task and will take years for the very beginner to become even a novice in the plumbing world. 

I found this in an article published in an issue of Domestic Engineering from 1919. It’s about an apprenticeship plan, arguing that the necessity for more care in the selection of plumbing apprentices is plain to every tradesperson in the craft. If a low grade of apprenticeship has been the rule in the past, it has been due to improper selection of apprentices and lack of sympathetic direction and cooperation on the part of the master and journeyman. An untrained or half-trained apprentice, or one whose inclinations are in other directions, lowers the standard of plumbers and plumbing. 

Reading the paragraph from 1919 makes me wonder about a couple of things. Do most plumbing shops have an apprenticeship plan? What do they expect from an apprentice and what can an apprentice expect from them? Both the apprentice and the journeyman should help one another. For example, here in Wisconsin we just passed a code update, our first since 2008, and the very first people to see and understand the updates are the apprentices. Their job is to inform the entire shop and keep them up to date with these code updates. This can be difficult if there is not a plan or proper expectations of one another. 

Why aren’t we selecting our future plumbers with more care? Why are we not giving them the proper training that they need and deserve? Is it all about the numbers? According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, plumbing will grow about 2% by 2032 and with approximately half our workforce being 50-plus years old. That means we have to train more people in the next 10 years than we have had to over the last several decades combined! Now I certainly don’t advocate for less training in the plumbing trade, but I think that it would be nearly impossible to still protect the public health and the waters of the state. How are we expecting the very best from our apprentices if we don’t give them the ample direct supervision they need and deserve? 

A CHANGE NEEDED?

We know finding good quality help that you can train and mold into the plumber that works best for your company was just as hard to find 100 years ago as it is now! How can this still be happening 100 years later? Maybe we need to make a change on how we look at training? 

I know that we may have run into the journeyman in our career that belittles every aspect of our professional life and makes plumbing very difficult. This may be from the old adage of the younger plumber making less money and having more energy to complete more tasks during the workday, so let’s make their life harder to build up my own worth. I think that mentality is just nonsense. I have always had the mindset to train as many people as I can to make my job that much easier. Now I know that as I grow older in years my ability to do certain installs may diminish, my knowledge and ability to train grows exponentially, making my worth to the company even more valuable, not less. 

I see way too many beginner plumbers sent out on their own doing the oddest of stuff because of lack of training. As an apprenticeship teacher, I have approximately 90 different students over a two-week period describe what they are seeing and doing in the field. This ranges from service, to remodels, to new construction, to POWTS. Now sometimes I do think they have some great ideas that I would have never thought about doing. However, most of the time the install is either not code-compliant, not fixed efficiently, or both. I don’t want to say that I’ve heard it all, but hearing the perspective from 90 different apprentices a year allows me to hear a plethora of unique installs.

The future comes at you fast. It starts today, and it starts with you.  

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Ken Dickerson teaches plumbing apprenticeship at Waukesha County Technical College. He is the 2022 Associated Builders and Contractors of Wisconsin Instructor of the Year, a U.S. Air Force veteran and proud husband and father of two. To reach Ken, email editor@plumbermag.com.