Diary of an event

3 June 2003



Guild president Mike Clark gives a personal account of the joint Guild, TSA conference


Approaching the second joint conference of the Guild of Cleaners and Launderers (GCL) and the Textile Services Association (TSA), I found myself taking on even more roles than usual.

As Guild president, I wanted members to have an informative and enjoyable weekend with ample opportunity for networking. Maintaining protocol, avoiding gaffs, and the reaction of members to the GCL's new image were main concerns.

As well as performing these duties I had to look after my own guests, including my wife Joan, who is on crutches recovering from a foot operation. Then the networking needs of my own consultancy are ever present on such occasions.

My conference started with the AGM of the College of Fellows, members who have helped considerably in advancing industry interests. Here, a duty both sad and pleasant was making a presentation to Ken Cupitt, retiring as Master after 14 years. But I was delighted that Anne Parris was elected as Master and Richard Neale and Adrian Redgate as Fellows.

Charity fundraiser

The Langley Marriott provided excellent service and food for the dinner dance. As GCL is a registered charity, this is not only a social event, but also the key fundraiser for its annual charity. This year I had chosen the Children's Leukemia Trust and the raffle raised £825 which Alex Reid most generously made up to £1,000. I thank all our guests for their support.

It was our privilege to host the Master of the Worshipful Company, David Hart, and his wife Jane. Other distinguished guests included TSA president John Walters and his wife Linda, TSA chief executive Murray Simpson and Master of the College of Fellows, Ken Cupitt.

The Sunday business session revealed the new GCL logo and recruitment plans with a new design for the Q-Star stickers.

Murray Simpson and myself started proceedings. It was good that our two organisations were maintaining close co-operation, as these events prove.

Matthew Barker drew some thought provoking customer service comparisons between drycleaning today and in the 1930s. A film of the Franco-Barbe process used by Castlebank dyeworks showed that cleaning involved successive waves of hot spirit for one and half hours! We also learnt that the charge for a suit was six shillings and sixpence. The equivalent of £15 today!

Ken Cupitt, GCL chief examiner for laundry, gave details of the laundry practical examinations, which the Guild is re-introducing. Ten practical laundry syllabi are offered alongside the five for drycleaning. There are also two syllabi for those involved in both laundry and drycleaning. The Guild's intermediate theory examination has been revised and can be combined with five practicals to gain a supervisory certificate.

Martin Gregson, Johnson Group technical director told us that the UK was late in bringing the Solvents Directive, adopted by the EC in 1999, fully into legislation. This is expected to take the form of General Binding Rules.

Drycleaners will have to register, pay a fee and prepare a solvent management plan to show compliance. Work will have to be weighed and the solvent used recorded. The limits of 80kg per litre for perc, 50kg per litre for GreenEarth and 50kg per litre for hydrocarbon are readily achievable with modern well-maintained machines. An allowance may be made for solvent residues sent for recovery. It is hoped that TSA can negotiate a standard solvent content in still residues that recognises the need to leave some solvent to retain fluidity for pumping.

Stephen Kaye of the HSE talked of the Synergy Project, the Scottish trial project transferring health and safety enforcement from factory inspectors to environmental health officers (EHOs). This is now complete and likely to be judged successful, leading to a changeover in the rest of the country. There are many more EHOs and the frequency of inspections will inevitably increase, possibly becoming annual. So there is an urgent need to review and update health and safety policies, risk assessments, COSHH assessments and training procedures.

Delegates saw "A Clean Bill of Health", the HSE's video for the drycleaning industry which describes the drycleaning process, highlights the need for regular maintenance and outlines the kind of risks inspectors will focus on.

A speaker from ACAS outlined their services (paid for by your taxes), which can prove a source of invaluable free advice on all employment relations issues. It has its own website www.acas.org.uk. Another site, www.tiger.gov.uk, assists employers in their duty to calculate return dates following maternity leave.

Washing technology

Don Pack of Seitz Chemical gave an excellent paper on the key aspects of washing technology. He explained the implications of varying their relative weighting during the wash process. This is at the heart of the Guild's mission to provide information and education to the twin industries.

Kim Stopher, chairman of the Combustion Engineering Association demonstrated the scandalous state of safety enforcement. His extensive experience of visiting small boiler users around London, led him to believe that the Pressure Systems Regulations were being ignored by a large proportion of cleaners. Due to lack of resources the HSE may sometimes have difficulty pursuing and enforcing breaches if the owner is hard to reach. This is an affront to all responsible companies and it is to be hoped that the move over to EHOs rights matters.

I was disappointed that the conference overran. Although, encouragingly, this was due to the many interesting questions, it is unfair to the later speakers and to delegates who have to travel. I apologise and we will reintroduce the speaker warning light system next year.

On the whole though a successful weekend from an official and from a personal view. I feel both the Guild and the TSA will be stronger as a result.
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