Regulated Trade?

[reefermadness]

Hello everyone. Is Transport Refrigeration a registared trade in Europe. It is here in Canada. You guys work on different units that are more technologically advanced. We have to go to a government approved school and pass government tests. This is a three year trade in canada and the only city that has the course is Calgary Alberta. The Olympic winter games were there in 1988. So like many other people i had to live in a different city 350km's away from home for 2 months a year three years in a row. On the other hand we dont' have anything regulating reefers themselves. Only the refrigeration is regulated. The engines and the rest of the reefer can be as delapitated as it wants. The average age of reefers here is about 15 years old. Some older some newer.

I was just wondering what people had to do for training in the EU/UK and if jobs are available. Whats the pay like etc.

Thanks for the time, hope to hear back soon.

Reefermadness

[Latte]

British Reefer engineers have the same basic qualifications as all other Refrigeration engineers (Gas Handling) apart from that there is no other official government qualifications they HAVE to have.

Reeferjon i am sure will tell you that all TK engineers over here are trained to the HIGHEST levels by the TK training school but these are not legally required.

Probably the same thing happens here as anywhere, The big boys, Supermarkets ect have all the new stuff with the flashing lights but there are still plenty of SB's out there.

Regards

Fatboy

[reefermadness]

The funny thing is that the only thing we have is SB's as fare as Thermo Kings. The carrier stuff tends to be newer since its more expensive to repair.


Reefermadness

[nova]

In Finland we must have done some basic courses like handling refrigerants and dealing with high voltages.

In Sweden these things are really strict. I don't know about the requirements of the technicians, but IIRC you won't pass the annual inspection of your refrigerated truck or trailer wihtout having a written certificate from authorized dealer that reefer unit is working ok and not having any refrigerant leaks. Sweden is one of the most strict countries in Europe what comes to the environmental issues.

In Finland skilled transport refrigeration technician salary is around 2000 - 3000 € / month (2500 - 3500 $).


Regards
Nova

[nova]

Reeferjon i am sure will tell you that all TK engineers over here are trained to the HIGHEST levels by the TK training school but these are not legally required.

Yes, TK requires all the dealers and official service affiliates to be qualified by TK's Certi-Tech system.

Regards,
Gold