The IOR’s 120^th Annual Dinner took place on 27 February 2020, giving IOR President Kevin Glass, the ideal platform to share the IOR’s plans for the coming year.

The launch of Open for Cooling was one of the night’s major announcements. This initiative which will take place on 26 June 2020 to coincide with World Refrigeration Day, will encourage refrigeration, air conditioning and heat pump businesses to hold open days in manufacturing plants, cold stores, supermarkets or even their offices. These events are designed to give the public the chance to see the wide variety of career options and great value to everyday life that our sector offers. To help businesses make a success of their open day, the IOR will be providing support and resources such as promotional material, presentations, games, videos, health and safety templates.  The IOR is encouraging businesses to sign up to their Open for Cooling campaign via a dedicated webpage www.ior.org.uk/openforcooling and to make contacts with local schools and colleges to invite them in.

As part of IOR’s work to raise awareness of the sector with young people, it held a Cool for School competition earlier this year and some of the competition entries were played during the dinner. These involved children from the age of 5-14 making videos that explain a cooling science principle.  You can see the winning entries yourself at www.fantasticfridges.com

Improving training standards and supporting the next generation of RACHP Technicians through their training has been a significant area of work for IOR members over the past few years. Initially this involved developing a new government recognised Apprenticeship Standard (known as the Trailblazer).  As part of his speech Kevin Glass advised that there are now 11 centres offering the new Trailblazer Apprenticeships and the first RACHP Engineering Technician Apprentices are expecting to graduate this summer.

The speech touched on the landscape post Brexit and reaffirmed that with F-Gas regulations enshrined in UK law, the IOR plans to carry on working with its EU partners on important environmental projects.

Other announcements included the continuation of the IOR’s successful member-led initiatives such as the Young Engineers Network meetings, regional Branch events and the Women in RACHP network.  All have been successful in encouraging engagement of members throughout the country and promoting diversity within the RACHP sector. The IOR continues to explore new ways of being more interactive with the introduction of Facebook Live events and the increased use of polls and online surveys, making sure that all members can have their say.