2021 Directory

Education and Training Last year, we all faced a number of fresh challenges that affected just about every aspect of our lives, both social and professional. However, despite the impact of COVID-19 we all had to find ways of continuing to communicate with colleagues, friends and family, as well as remain in step with work colleagues to keep the wheels of industry turning. The fluid power industry has, of course, been no exception. Throughout these challenging times, companies operating within all industry sectors that rely on hydraulic and pneumatic equipment and services have still needed to remain operational and ensure their workforce is fully up to date with their education and training requirements and compliant with all relevant standards and regulations. Continued support From the start of the pandemic, the BFPA focused on continuing to provide member organisations not just with the training they needed but also to be at the end of the phone ready to respond to, and provide guidance and advice regarding, members’ concerns amid what has proven to be the most existentially challenging periods in our lifetimes. As you would expect, our training courses simply were not permitted to take a back step during the crisis. So, we have adapted our Foundation Course in Working Safely with Hydraulic Hose and Connectors and Hose Integrity, Inspection and Management Training Programme so it can be run online as well as the traditional format. Some sectors have continued to require on-site training – the MOD, for example. We have also introduced a new BFPA Thread Awareness Online Theory Training Course. This 3-hour online training course provides candidates with an understanding of how to correctly identify an end termination, using a range of measuring instruments and gauges in conjunction with tabulated data to positively identify a range of fittings and adaptors. Additionally, following the 2019 revision to the BFPA’s Fluid Injection Injury Emergency THE FACTS booklet, we have now included a free downloadable summary sheet on our website with key information taken from the latest edition. To complement this summary sheet, we recommend that you purchase the popular Fluid Injection Injury Emergency THE FACTS booklet, which can be purchased from the BFPA website under publications. The price for members is £3.30 each and £6.60 each for non- members. Discounts are available on bulk orders. Heightened level of training It almost seems counter-intuitive to think that the level of training would increase during a pandemic. However, partly due to the huge popularity of our new online- format courses and the ability for people to attend them remotely all over the globe, this is indeed what happened. Impressively, our overall level of trainees to date has now well-surpassed 10,000, which is a testament to the importance and integrity of the courses as well as the professionalism of our trainers. Moreover, by the time you receive your copy of this Yearbook in the late Spring of 2021, we will have reconvened much of the face-to- face training up and down the country that was temporarily put on hold due to the restrictions surrounding COVID-19. Also, we have ramped up activity around making more people aware of the importance of our Minimum Education Requirements (you can read more about this in the separate article on MERs in this edition of the Yearbook) All of the BFPA Training Academy’s courses have been written and developed using the expertise available to the BFPA and set out to establish a benchmark for training people involved in hydraulic hose installation, use, maintenance, inspection Over 10,000 trainees to date – BFPA courses continue to provide the right training even through the pandemic 22 www.bfpa.co.uk Martin Kingsbury, Membership and Training Director, the BFPA, looks at the full range of courses currently offered by the BFPA Training Academy and how the Association’s training activity has continued, and even been enhanced, throughout the challenges of COVID-19.  Martin Kingsbury: “All of the BFPA Training Academy’s courses have been written and developed using the expertise available to the BFPA and set out to establish a benchmark for training people involved in hydraulic hose installation, use, maintenance, inspection and management.”