Congratulations to Roy Johnson on celebrating his 38th year within the Gas Industry!

 

Able Skills are proud to work alongside the irreplaceable Gas Assessor Roy Johnson who holds an outstanding 38 years of working within Gas under his belt.

We caught up with Roy this week to find out more on his various experiences over the years. From initially becoming qualified, to working for himself, and then passing his knowledge onto the Gas Engineers of tomorrow as he is the official Assessor for those taking their ACS Exams, where it be their initial Assessment or their Re-Assessment. Let's find out how it all began...

So when did it all begin?

 

It all began back when I was 21 as I became Gas competent after successfully completing all my Gas Courses and gaining good experience on site.

I'm glad I got into the trade at a young age as not many people can honestly say they hold the same level of experience as me and it gave me great confidence knowing I could deal with the same level of work guys a lot older than me usually dealt with.

Making the step towards a career in Gas was my own decision and I went into such trade because I could see the prosperous future in the industry. There were masses amounts of work up for grabs and I said to myself the sooner the better.

What did you find to be the biggest challenge?

 

Well I'm dyslexic you see and the written work proved to be the biggest task for me. It took me a lot longer to become fully competent and if it wasn't for the support from my mother, who continued to push me, I'm not sure I would be the Gas Assessor I am today.

I was always good with my hands and knew I would excel with the practical elements of the trade. As my dyslexia impacted my learning, I took to the Bloomfield Learning Centre to ensure I could see my personal goal of becoming a Plumbing and Gas Safe Engineer.

Where has the Gas Industry taken you?

 

All over the country. I've worked in so many cities I can barely remember them all. Not only have I done some travelling, but I even ran a very successful business employing several members of staff over a 12 year period.

Also, as a lot of people know, Plumbing goes hand in hand with Gas work and I'm proud to have worked within Plumbing for many years too. I believe it's essential to know more than one trade as having more than one source of income is very handy.

What lead you to becoming a Gas Assessor?

 

Well I've worked within the industry for so long and I've seen so many mistakes made to the point where if I hadn't correct them, some serious harm would have been done. The amount of appliances and work in general left to be sub-standard posed a lot of danger and that really fueled my passion to become an assessor so I could ensure the same mistakes weren't made again.

I've really enjoyed it thus far and I'm now in my 8th year doing so.

What do you enjoy the most and would you have done anything differently?

 

I most definitely enjoy helping people the same way I received help back when I was struggling with my dyslexia. I find great pleasure in helping people achieve their goals and the only thing I would have changed would be to have started this role earlier in my career.

I take great pride in knowing I hold the responsibility of correctly assessing the Gas Engineers of tomorrow, whether it be those who are new to the trade or those coming back for their re-assessments.

What would you say to the guys currently studying on their Gas Courses here at Able Skills?

 

Not a lot of students actually realise that, with myself included, the Plumbing and Gas Instructors actually hold over 200 years worth of knowledge and experience within their trades. One thing I always tell the guys here is to make sure they are fully competent and confident enough to not only handle work in the future and pass their ACS Exams, but make sure they get all they can from the instructors here at Ableskills on whatever Gas Course they're on.

For example, if you want to work on boilers, then the Boiler Fault Finding Course is absolutely essential; there is no two ways about. If that's what you want to do, enroll yourself on the course and get some real life experience after.

Great tips Roy! I think we can all agree the above is a delightful read for all those aspiring to become Gas Safe Engineers in the future.

It's a real pleasure to have Roy here and we always receive great feedback from the students he's worked with... Keep up the good work!