Page 24 - Gi March 2019 - Flipbook

BACK TO THE FUTURE

TRAINING THE NEXT GENERATION OF GAS INDUSTRY WELDERS

A construction industry viewpoint from Tony Cottrell,
Managing Director and Lewis Watts, Weld Engineering
Manager at Fastflow Energy Services

or decades, the UK pipeline UK government has recently set rather than through a co-ordinated
industry has suffered from a out future apprenticeship up-take sector programme of training and
significant shortage of skilled targets and industrial strategies to development. This allows the gas sector
professional welders, leading to make maximum use of the country’s to retain knowledge and expertise, but
F the current ‘age-gap’ issue facing oil and gas industry resource expertise. requires the construction companies
construction companies nationwide. The However, the current near-critical involved to create and fund their own in-
signs are that the gas industry desperately industry shortage of pipeline welders house apprenticeship schemes to ensure
needs to go back to the future to train is having to be addressed by the the necessary resources are in place to
the next generation of pipeline welders. construction companies themselves, address future industry needs.

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