Pictured above: Mark Dougall

There are fears that new regulations, due to come into force next year, may result in a shortage of skilled gas engineers in the East Midlands. Derby-based Develop Training Limited is urging those that are still not trained to required F-Gas standards to gain their qualification sooner rather than later.

The legislation is part of the EU F-Gas Regulations, the first part of which was introduced in April 2007. Since July 2009 any company which employs engineers working under F-Gas Regulations must have a Company Certificate and from July 2011 this will be extended to individuals. Anyone carrying out service, maintenance, recovery or leak checking on refrigeration equipment covered by the regulations must have completed one of the updated national qualifications.

Mark Dougall, Electrical, Mechanical and Building Services Director at Develop Training, fears that a last-minute rush to gain qualifications may mean demand for courses could easily outstrip supply.

He said, "If current rates of sign up continue it will be virtually impossible to train everyone in time, which will leave many people working illegally. Despite the publicity and discussion surrounding these regulations everyone is seeing really small numbers of people registering to update their qualifications. We estimate that in total around 3,000 have signed up across the country.

"We are worried about this for two reasons - not only will individuals be fined if they don't gain their qualifications but we may also see a shortage of engineers able to legally undertake important servicing and maintenance work."

He added, "It seems that many are either not aware of the need to undertake one of the new courses, or not concerned about the timescale. At the moment the qualifications are widely available so there's not really any excuse for not signing up. July 2011 may seem like a long way off at the moment but finding vacancies with trainers will become increasingly difficult nearer the deadline. People may be thinking they can get away with it but come July there is going to be a real crackdown on non-compliance."