Who Can Join

We welcome anybody connected with the industry to attend our meetings. Nobody is barred because they are a member of another organisation. After three meetings, we would like to know their intentions concerning joining APICS

WHAT QUALIFICATIONS ARE NEEDED?

Any applicant applying for membership must demonstrate his/her competence as a chimney sweep.

Attitude is a very important qualification.

We would like all members to attend the HETAS Awareness Course, and to meet the requirements of the assessor.

Any other qualifications would be recognised, (i.e. NVQ, City & Guilds, RoSPA, Fume Assessor, Registered Engineer, Approved Chimney Sweep etc.).

ASSESSMENT

A new member would undertake to work with at least three existing members; the applicant would firstly watch and then adopt a ‘hands on’ approach. All points concerning sweeping would be covered, (see Assessment Form). The length of time spent with each sweep would depend on the applicant. At the end of the procedure, a report would be presented to the next meeting indicating what jobs had been undertaken, what the applicant’s attitude is and what the members think of the applicant’s chance of being a successful sweep. Long established sweeps would go through a shortened appraisal, (see Assessment Form and Equipment required).

The Management Committee would then vet the paperwork and a decision would be made. Any member who lives in close proximity (30 mile radius) to the applicant would not be able to be involved in this process.

It the applicant fails this initial assessment he/she would be advised to take the HETAS course. Having met the assessor's requirements for this course, the applicant would be assessed again. If an applicant failed the assessment process twice, their application to join APICS would be rejected. The sweeps who undertook the first assessment would not be allowed to do the second assessment.