Let’s grab some rays!

Solar energy as the name suggests is energy obtained directly from the sun. We use the heat from the sun to dry the washing on the line, grow crops and have a very nice holiday – but what about the opportunities that solar provides in terms of power?

Let’s look at a few solar facts that might surprise you

• The Sun is 150 million kilometres away but just the tiny fraction of the Sun’s energy that hits the Earth is enough to meet all our power needs
• Every minute, enough energy arrives at the Earth to meet our demands for a whole year
• Only about half of the incoming solar energy actually reached the Earth’s surface. It is reflected back out in to space or absorbed by clouds and oceans.

So with this abundant energy available why do we worry about energy efficiency and conservation?

The simple answer is we need to be able to harness that energy. The tricky question is how do we go about it?

There are three main ways we can harness that solar energy

Solar cells that convert light directly in to electricity. A really simple but effective use of this is the humble calculator. Satellites run on energy from solar cells, providing us with many everyday essentials such as telephones, navigation, weather forecasting, the internet and TV channels.

Solar water heating where energy from the sun is used to heat water in glass panels on your roof. This means you reduce the amount of gas or electricity used to heat the water in your home, thereby saving on your energy bills. This system works better in areas with a sunny climate.

Solar panels can be fitted to south facing roofs. These can be expensive to install but the government can pay you for any extra energy you produce and feed back into the National Grid.

So summing up what we know about solar energy, it seems too good not to take advantage of. After all it is free, clean, waste free and renewable.  However, it has its limitations. It is no good at night and it can be expensive to set up the equipment needed to harness the energy. The amount of energy that can be harnessed depends on the distance from the equator.

Here in the UK, with our cloudy skies and dull weather, technology is starting to make the use of solar energy more viable.

Personal Protective Equipment for FENSA Fitters

You may be surprised to hear that the subject of this blog, Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), is considered by some to be rather controversial. However here at FENSA we believe anything that strives to improve the safety and wellbeing of our FENSA Fitters must be a good thing.

There is no doubt that PPE protects workers from injury. It is very important for those in the Fenestration industry as often individuals are working on their own and there may be a delay in help arriving in the event of an accident or mishap.

Let’s see what the Health and Safety Executive says about PPE:

‘all equipment (including clothing affording protection against the weather) which is intended to be worn or held by a person at work and which protects him or her against one or more risks to his or her health or safety’, e.g., safety helmets, gloves, eye protection, high-visibility clothing, safety footwear and safety harnesses.’

Obviously some, if not all, of these safety features can apply to Fitters in the process of installing windows.

Safety Boots – These are essential and should include safety features such as steel toe caps, heat resistance, and be water repellent. Just dropping a heavy tool on your foot can cause a major injury and prevent you carrying on working.

Safety Hemet – Although an unpopular piece of safety equipment, the safety helmet could be considered the most important to protect you if something heavy falls and and strikes you on the head.

Gloves – Protecting your hands is important, although gloves can also be unpopular because they can make working in some situations clumsy and difficult.

High Vis – Being highly visible on a building site can help prevent you being crushed by heavy moving vehicles and High Vis jackets also provide welcome weather proofing and warmth.

Eye Protection – This may seem at first to be rather excessive until you consider the damage that could be done by a shard of glass piercing your eye, while you are knocking out old windows.

No matter how careful you are, the unexpected sometimes happens or somebody else could make a mistake. PPE is designed to be a barrier between you and the hazards you come across every day in the course of your working day.

Without PPE that defence is not there and you are more likely to be injured.

Choose comfortable PPE that is suitable for the job at hand so you are more likely to wear it, and stay safe.

Girl Power in the Fenestration Industry

It may surprise you to know that there are currently over 200,000 women working in the construction industry and that number is slowly increasing. Well that is good news as there is still a lack of skilled manual workers. But that figure is quite low when you consider there are over two million people working in the construction industry. So that 200,000 is just 1% of the work force.

We decided to do some research and see if we could find some possible reasons for this relatively low figure.

Traditionally construction has been seen as a predominantly male environment and ‘not a place for women’. Women do not feel the industry is ‘female friendly’ and the very fact there are few women in the industry can also be very off putting.

A recent Equal Opportunities Commission report found 80% of school-age girls said they would be interested in learning to do a non-traditional job but only 12% were interested in construction.

However things are moving forward and the opportunities are there for women to be involved in construction with apprenticeships, learning on the job or by going to university and entering construction at graduate level.  Once the skills are learnt there is the attractive prospect of the freedom to start a business themselves.

The construction industry is always evolving and improving with initiatives such as the Construction Skills Certificate Scheme (CSCS) which has resulted in less on-site accidents and improved competencies. To date some 1,756,519 people have a CSCS card.

This coupled with more training opportunities has seen an increase in the number of women studying for a future within construction.

Are you a female FENSA Fitter? We would love to share your story – just let us know below…

The FIT Show – A quick update!

Well, the FIT Show is almost upon us. Over 170 exhibitors have made their preparations, stands have been designed and put together, seminars and talks organised.  An immense amount of work has been done by people determined to make the show a well-deserved success.

By now you all know what will be on offer, new products to view, seminars and clinics to attend, competitions to enter, even a free drink and Danish! So if you want to learn more about window energy ratings or how to become a Green Deal installer you can just attend our free seminars. Or come and speak to us at our Stand 2-280

With so much happening around you, it may be easy to lose track of time so we will be putting updates and times of events on our social media. So if you have a smart phone or similar device, keep it handy and follow @FENSA_windows!

This is your show. The only trade show dedicated to the window, door and conservatory industry.

Take full advantage of it and take away as much as you can; knowledge, information, training, inspiration, ideas and new contacts and friends.

Let us know what you think. We value your opinions.

Building Blocks Series 6: The Willis Tower Balconies

This month’s blog post in our Building Blocks series may cause a few of you palpitations but don’t worry we won’t make you step out on to the Willis Tower Balconies!

 

 

Now, we have your attention let’s have a look at the Tower first with a few astonishing facts.

Located in Chicago, it was called the Sears Tower until 2009 when it was bought by the Willis Group, a London- based global insurance broker. It stands 443m tall, is the eighth tallest building in the world and cost over $150million to build.

 

 

 

 

It took three years to be built by some 2,000 workers and, the moment you have all been waiting for, has about 16,100 bronze coloured windows. Now, there would be a lot of elbow power required to keep all those windows clean but 6 roof-mounted robotic window washing machines  keep them sparkling. A lot safer as well!

We could tell you more about the Tower but we know you want to hear about the balconies.  They are situated on the 103^rd floor which is called the Skydeck. Some 1.3million tourists visit the Skydeck every year.

Although they look very scary and you would certainly need a head for heights to venture out, the following description may put your mind at rest.

The balconies are actually glass boxes that extend out 4.3 feet from the side of the tower. They are made up of three layers of half inch thick glass that has been laminated in to one unit, which makes them very strong and prevents any steel supports obscuring the view. If you are brave enough to stand out on the glass floor, you will be looking down at the city of Chicago and beyond from a height of 1,353 feet.

To ensure the view is always brilliantly clear, the glass boxes can go back inside the tower for cleaning and essential maintenance. What a great safety feature.

To truly appreciate the scale of the experience you can watch this short video with views from the balcony and then you can decide for yourself if you could take a peek!

Take our latest poll

How to be a great FENSA Fitter

Here in the FENSA offices we have been having a think about what it means to be a FENSA Fitter.
We know that  the number 1 point is compliance with building regulations, but what about some of the other things running alongside?
The obvious other thing a FENSA Fitter has to deal with is contact with your customer and other members of the public. We all know that good customer relations can sometimes be a little tricky, so we thought about this long and hard and came up with this useful list of good practice.
We hope this helps, but do feel free to add to the list with what you think makes a great FENSA Fitter.

• Do not arrive on time; aim to be a little early so in the event of traffic or other hold up, so you will not be leaving your customer waiting for you.
• Stay a little later if the job you are on is not quite finished. Your customer will appreciate your dedication and commitment to them.
• Speak quietly and appropriately when around your customers. Any of your apprentices will see how you treat customers and they will follow your example.
• Dress appropriately! Nobody likes to see the proverbial ‘Builder’s bum’!

• Be positive. If there’s a problem, solve it, without complaining. Your customer will admire your tenacity and be more likely to recommend your services. Who wouldn’t want a fitter that can be trusted to get the job done against all adversity?
• Maintain a clean and tidy work area. This is a good health and safety policy as there may be young children around. Your customer will be more reassured and relaxed.

• Be dependable. If you are ill or there is a problem with the van, let your customer know as soon as possible. They may have taken a day off work or got a friend to come over. Everybody likes to be kept in the loop and it will help maintain good customer relations.
• Above all remain calm and polite if things take a turn for the worst. Take the initiative and use your positive attitude to defuse the situation and be the problem solver.