News
SCOTLAND COULD LEAD THE WAY WITH LIFE SAVING TECHNOLOGY
by Cynthia Fisher, Commercial Director at anti-scald specialists Intatec
Eighteen months ago Scotland saw the implementation of anti-scald legislation within bathrooms designed to save lives, but many plumbing professionals don’t appear to have taken the legislation to heart.
Every year 20 people die from scalding in a bath with over 570 suffering injuries, many of which can be disfiguring for life. The Scottish Government’s legislation stipulates that every new bathroom installed or refurbished should be equipped with a TMV2 approved anti-scald valve. This valve will regulate water temperature to protect all bathrooms users, particularly the young and elderly who invariably suffer worst from hot water injuries. In fact with around 19,000 houses being built every year in Scotland, Scottish households are set to increase by 13%, up to 2.5 million by 2024. This is mainly the result in the growing elderly population, many of whom are expected to be living alone and therefore vulnerable to household accidents.
In line with legislation and these statistics, Intatec, the specialist anti-scald tap, valve and shower manufacturer were expecting a surge in the sale of thermostatic valves in Scotland. When it failed to appear we were perplexed and decided to investigate.
We spoke to our own customers, the plumbers merchants, as well as installers and house builders to establish three basic facts: are merchants promoting anti-scald? Do installers have a good knowledge or anti-scald valves? And are house builders using their new safer bathrooms as a selling point on new build sites?
The survey conducted in Scotland disappointingly revealed that many merchants are not actively promoting anti-scald valves and the shocking fact that some plumbers seem to be avoiding fitting them. Add to this the conclusion that although house builders are complying with the new regulations, they are not promoting new safer bathrooms. The enthusiasm for anti-scald within the industry is obviously sadly lacking and therefore public awareness is very low.
What has come as a surprise to us as manufacturers is that the industry in Scotland is only giving half-hearted backing this extremely important legislation. House builders are obviously complying but the merchants are not taking the opportunity to not only encourage hot water safety, but also increase their margins by promoting anti-scald technology.
We explained our findings to Michael Matheson MSP (Falkirk West) and asked how he thought it was going. He said “I note your concerns but have not been aware that there have been any problems with the new regulations as how it affects the industry. Clearly there is always the need to inform and educate the public on the dangers of scalding and I hope that the measures which I helped introduce will be of help to reduce scalding.”
So clearly, the Scottish Government believe that all is well. In response, Intatec is urging plumbers, merchants and house builders to get behind anti-scald regulations and we are making our award-nominated safety information more widely available to Scotland. From day one, we have been committed to promoting anti-scald not only across Scotland but also across the UK with brand new products and support material for both merchants and plumbers.
Anti-scald valves have to comply with TMV2 and TMV3 accreditation standards, applied by BuildCert. This is an independent assessment of the product, its performance and the quality of the manufacturing process. There are two levels of assessment. TMV2 covers showers and thermostatic valves for domestic installations and the slightly more stringent TMV3 accreditation covers installations in care environments, the equivalent of the NHS Estates DO8 standard.
The valves produce stable and controllable temperature, which although provides water which is still too hot to touch, it will not cause the horrendous clinical burns and injuries by uncontrolled water temperatures.
As a company we set ourselves two goals; the first to produce the most comprehensive range of TMV accredited valves on the market. The second was to ensure that we provided competent technical information and support for anyone involved with their specification, supply or fitting.
We believe that we have achieved both with the introduction of our Inta range, which includes individual mixing valves that can be concealed beneath a basin, bath or other fitting, allowing the existing taps to be used. There is also an attractive range of thermostatic shower valves, shower heads and fittings to add function, style or drama and most importantly safety to any bathroom. Inta also has combined bath shower mixers with probably the highest flow rate on the market that means a hot, but safe bath is easily achievable.
As part of its campaign to improve the sale-ability of anti-scald, we produced a booklet ‘Everything you need to know about anti-scald’ which is a comprehensive guide covering everything from regulations, choosing the right valve, installation and testing. It is an invaluable resource which not only educates the trade but can be used by installers to explain the technology and its importance to their customers. The booklet is free and can be supplied to merchants, plumbers and end users. Our representatives are also trained with a high level of technical knowledge and can give invaluable advice to merchants as required.
Expectations of the legislation is that over the long term the numbers of injuries and deaths will decrease illustrating much safer bathing environments, but this data will be slow to become public as the number of new bathrooms will be relatively slow. True results and effects will continue to build over the coming years.
Scotland’s building and plumbing industry has the opportunity to be the leading force in this life saving legislation showing improvements before it becomes official across the whole of the UK and we are offering help at every turn with technical information to be found at www.intatec.co.uk or at the technical helpline on 01889 207200.
ENDS
For more information, please contact
Clive Reeves
01543 501111