We must admit – we’re shocked that in 2016, with ‘big brother’ always watching and endless red tape to negotiate, there are still people out there who think they can get away with installing or repairing gas appliances without the relevant qualifications and registrations.
It is very simple – if you are not on the Gas Safe Register, it is illegal to carry out any gas work!
And this is for a very simple reason – gas can kill.
Each and every year, unqualified and unregistered ‘gas engineers’ cause accidents and injuries in homes and businesses.
For example, according to ‘staygassafe.co.uk’, one in five homes in the East of England has unsafe gas appliances. A gas fire that was leaking carbon monoxide poisoned an elderly man; he only survived because a carbon monoxide alarm went off. A woman managed to escape a gas explosion in her home but suffered smoke inhalation.
Further afield, this month a Plymouth plumber was given a suspended sentence and fined £2,000 for arranging for fraudulent gas safety checks to be carried out on 14 separate occasions. One gas boiler passed as safe in a rental property was found to be ‘Immediately Dangerous’, potentially leaking poisonous carbon monoxide into the property. The tenants had been suffering from headaches and dizziness and notified their gas provider – which led to illegal activities coming to light.
In addition, a plumber from Braintree who installed three gas boilers and associated pipework without being Gas Safe Registered was recently handed a community order and ordered to pay £633 in costs.
What is Gas Safe?
Having replaced CORGI as the UK, Isle of Man and Guernsey’s official gas registration body, Gas Safe Register is the official list of gas engineers who are legally allowed to work on boilers, cookers, fires and other gas appliances.
Registered gas engineers have been thoroughly checked to ensure that they are qualified and competent to work safely with gas; they carry a Gas Safe Register ID card, and they must be re-tested every five years.
And it’s not just gas engineers that need to comply!
If you are a landlord, you are legally required for every rental property you own to have a gas safety check every year. This check involves a Gas Safe registered engineer inspecting your gas appliances to ensure that they are working correctly.
This is something you must not avoid; after a Gas Safe engineer classified a boiler in one of his tenanted properties as ‘Immediately Dangerous’, the landlord in question was repeatedly asked to provide gas safety certificates to Plymouth City Council, which he ignored. In addition, after being served an improvement notice he didn’t carry out the necessary gas safety checks and maintenance before the notice expired. Eventually the boiler was replaced by the council and the landlord has been fined £11,000 and forced to pay costs of £880.
It is also highly recommended that homeowners arrange an annual gas safety check, although this is not currently a legal requirement.
What to do
If you are a homeowner or landlord, ensure that you organise the necessary gas safety checks, and if you are thinking of replacing, servicing or moving any gas appliance, make sure that the person carrying out the work is Gas Safe registered.
If you are a plumber who has been asked to work with gas, even if it’s just a ‘small’ job, don’t. The extra money you may make is simply not worth a huge fine or prison sentence if your unqualified work leads to an accident, injury or death.
Instead, contact Gas Training & Assessment; a gas training course that will provide you with the competency and qualifications you need to become Gas Safe is far more beneficial than a stay at Her Majesty’s pleasure.
Call us today on 01268 727797 or click here to
view our gas training courses
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