The Latest News

The demand for CSCS cards on some Construction sites is not so urgent as it was a year or so ago. However the route to a card by means of 'Industry Accreditation' or grandfather rights has finally been closed.

The only route to a CSCS card is now through the NVQ system.

Further information can be obtained from your local 'Construction Skills Office'. They used to be called CITB.

Please note that the CSCS schemes are NOT run by the Water Jetting Association.

The WJA Training schemes continue to be very popular and we issued about 2,500 certificates and 'Photocards' or I.D Cards in 2007.

There is more information about training on this website, and details of available courses can be found by contacting any of our approved training providers. Look at the members pages; a capital letter 'T' (in red) indicates an Approved Training Provider, and the Associate members section contains details of companies who can provide training anywhere in the country.

The Annual Conference and AGM will be held on May 16th 2008. The venue is the 'Lea Marston Hotel' near Tamworth. This is a 'Best Western' establishment.

There will be the usual series of topical papers during the day on Friday, with our usual 'partner programme' taking place at the same time.

The conference is open to all member companies without charge - as is the partner event. This is part or our membership service.

There will also be the 'Golf Competition' on the Thursday - with Tee times from 2:00pm. Arrangements for the golf are being co-ordinated by John Jones of VEOLIA.

Further details and a booking form are usually sent to all members in early April.

The Associations general Code of Practice was extensively revised and extended in 2002/3. The document now contains new sections dealing with cold cutting (abrasive jet cutting) and UHP work. With a number of new Appendices covering Hose Re-ending, Confined Space work, and typical end fittings, the new Code is a much more comprehensive document. The Blue Code is the standard reference document and is given to all delegates on all courses except the Drain and Sewer Course where a more specific document is available.

The Medical Injuries notes are also included in full, as well as being published on this website.

This Code was specifically written for Drain and Sewer operations - and is unique amongst our documents in that it includes numerous line drawings and diagrams - intended to provide a more practical document. It is provided as a 'hand out' on all drain and sewer training courses.

"The Manufacturers Code of Practice for High and Ultra-High Pressure Water Jetting Equipment, Pumps and Ancillary Equipment" - to give it its full title, was published in November 2002. It is significant in that it contains all the cross references we can find to both UK and Euro requirements.

All three Codes Red, Blue and Green are priced at £12.50 to members and £20.00 to non-members, and can be ordered in the usual way.

A significant document covering a study carried out by Health and Safety Laboratories in Buxton deals with HAND-TRANSMITTED VIBRATION EXPOSURE from the use of a WATER JETTING GUN. For some time now it has been suggested that Arthritis is more likely to be the cause of any hand or arm problems rather than White Finger Vibration. However the suggestions, and the potential compensation claims, have persisted.

Increasingly there are worrying suggestions from some 'claims specialists' that the risk of 'White Finger Vibration' must be increased in connection with UHP work, - simply because the pressure is greater! The logical response is, of course, to point out that because UHP work normally involves much greater pressures there are much lower flow rates - so there should be less risk (if any) and not more.

A new study by the HSL has looked at some more specialised applications including rotary nozzle work. This information was only published towards the end of 2004. An 'Executive Summary' of the report is available from the WJA - and full copies in electronic form are available from Rebecca Hutt via their website at the HSL. { Rebecca.Hutt@hsl.gov.uk }

As usual we list the dates of forthcoming Council Meetings so that any member can submit items for discussion well in advance. Simply contact any Council Member or drop a line to the WJA.

Dates are: March 6th, April 24th, July 10th, September 11th, and November 13th.

As a result of numerous requests our training providers have been invited to 'post' details of their forthcoming training courses on this page. We are still awaiting details of dates and venues because these always depend on demand. Data for 2005 Approved Training providers can be found on the website. Go to list of members and look at all entries which have a red capital T at the end of their address.

Flowplant have a continuing series of training courses, usually based in Salisbury. For further details please contact Flowplant direct. (Tel: 01722 325424)