A summer job led Charles Honey to gas fitting. Now he oversees several
fuel education programs.
"While going to university, I'd been employed as a summer student
by a company who manufactured large steam and hot water boilers. These boilers
were used to provide steam for the manufacturing process of several companies.
Some boilers were used to provide heat to various establishments."
Honey started as a tradesperson. While licensed as a gas and oil tech,
he was on a team that started boiler installations for natural gas and fuel
oil that would be used to provide electricity.
Nowadays, Honey's students are either employed in the field or learning
the trade. He's also assisting the government and an industry task force
to make changes in fuel certification and to standardize training.
Anne St. Eloi is proud of what she's accomplished as an industrial
gas fitter during her career.
"At the end of a day, I could always stand back and proudly say that I'd
accomplished something. I like to drive by some of the buildings that I helped
build and know that I had a role in them being here today."
Currently the coordinator of a women's trades program, St. Eloi recruits
women to technical careers and promotes education in trades generally.
"I like the diversification of the job," says gas fitter Doug Fitzgerald.
"I enjoy doing different things -- working with pipes, changing and installing
meters, checking and repairing leaks and inspecting work done by contractors.
Safety concerns are basically learning the job and a lot of common sense.
"You pick things up and learn as you go. You definitely don't get
down into a hole that you can't see out of! Our guidelines are that we
must shore up [stabilize] the sides of anything more than four feet deep."
There's never a dull moment, agrees gas fitter Dave McKnight. "I like
the variety and going to different areas every day. I have my own [company]
van and go to a variety of trouble calls every day. I like the freedom."
Those calls range from checking for natural gas leaks at a home to changing
gas meters to restoring service and offering advice on installation on gas
appliances. He uses modern equipment, like gas scopes or gas sentries, to
check for leaks in confined areas.
McKnight's quick thinking on a meter-changing assignment prevented
a possible explosion. He was in the basement of an older home.
"As my pipe wrench loosened the pipe from the meter, the one-inch pipe
just disintegrated inside the wall. Gas was pouring out of the wall. I knew
that I didn't have time to go out to my truck and get another pipe --
there was a wood-burning stove just across the room!
"The house probably would have exploded. I had to think fast so I took
off my glove, stuffed it into what was left of the pipe and forced it in with
my screwdriver. Fortunately it worked."
Michael Stewart learned safety the hard way -- he witnessed an explosion.
The day his boss blew up a large industrial gas furnace oven taught him that
anyone can make mistakes. Safety is number one, he emphasizes.
Stewart entered the profession as he gained work experience during his
last two years of school.
"I was at a lot of different places and saw lots of types of occupations.
The plumbers and pipefitters and gas fitters were the only ones who had fun.
They were good mates with the other plumbers competing against them!"