Socially Adding Value

Companies have had Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) on the agenda for decades but since the introduction of the Social Value Act, as well as the arrival of much more scrutiny around corporate citizenship in general, there is a requirement for much more rigour. This has to be a good thing.

CSR should not be a box ticking exercise. It should benefit all stakeholders, and this should especially apply for those involved in social housing procurement because the added value that suppliers can potentially deliver, really can make a difference to the communities served.

 

One very tangible example is to work with suppliers that have the means and commitment to upskill the workforce.

The Social Value Act encourages public authorities to consider economic, social and environmental well-being when commissioning and procuring services. For me, training delivers on all three counts.

From an economic perspective, equipment that is fitted properly by well trained, professional installers needs less maintenance, requires less downtime, is more efficient and requires fewer resources. Furthermore, regular training helps local installers to always deliver a quality service, giving them added confidence, pride in the job, and the ability to deliver more contracts.

The more of these contracts they get, the more likely they are to need additional people and create more skilled i.e. better jobs. And better maintained homes, help to create happier communities.

Environmentally, better functioning housing stock means less waste of resource and utilities - and we are finding that considerations around fuel and water efficiency are becoming increasingly mainstream.

Triton’s commitment

For over 25 years now, Triton has provided free training courses for installers to help ensure they are as skilled as possible in the installation of showers, to safeguard the best lifetime value of our products and also to ensure that those local tradesmen are kept up to date with new technology and product innovation.

We typically deliver over 250 training modules a year. We offer a mix of training routes both at our purpose-built training facility at Triton Head Office and offsite around the UK. Moving forward, we are looking at online modular programmes to enable remote learning.

Here is an overview of Triton’s national installer training programme.

Our offsite Tool Box Training is custom built to support new and existing contracts where our products are being installed. Each module is focused on a single shower category between Electric, Mixer, Power and Digital showers, and has a running time of approximately two hours.

Modules include:

  • Understanding of product operation, user features and flow rate performance
  • Understanding components used in the product/s’ construction
  • Understanding plumbing and electrical requirements for correct operation of the product/s
  • How to commission the product/s correctly
  • Overcoming problems with shower operation due to site conditions
  • Product fault diagnostics.

And we’ve had some great feedback:

“Triton works closely with installers, offering free training in order to teach them about how their products work, how to service and how to repair them. All diagrams are available online, which means I have quick and easy access to them at the point of installing or servicing a shower. In my experience, this means I can handle any situation on site.” – Paul Shepherd, Installer.

Looking after the next generation 

Upskilling already qualified installers isn’t the only way we are supporting the industry. Early in 2017 we spotted a gap in the training of the next generation of installers when it came to light that on NVQ Plumbing and Electrical Level 2-3 courses students are no longer being trained on how to install a shower.

Over the last year we’ve been working with 10 colleges around the UK to create a bespoke module to solve this problem and our plan is to add a further 20 colleges every year moving forward. 

In the long term, this investment has to be good for the shower market, but we genuinely feel we are also giving something back to the communities that we serve.

For more information about Triton’s training courses please contact us on:
Tel:02476 378 320

Email: training@tritonshowers.co.uk

Online: www.tritonshowers.co.uk/training