Health & Safety

Heating and gas employers are urged to ensure their risk assessments and safety regulations are up to date. It follows news that the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has agreed in principle a scheme to recover costs from companies which flout health and safety laws.

The proposals will enable the HSE to recover the costs of their intervention in certain circumstances at a rate of approximately £133 per hour. Costs of any specialist support needed by HSE would also be passed on and invoices would need to be paid in 30 days.

The new scheme could be in place by as early as October 2012 and Gas Training and Assessment is urging all businesses to ensure they are well-prepared for the changes and that their safety procedures adequately protect the public and employees.

As Basildon’s premier gas training specialists, we fully understand the importance of health and safety in a high risk industry such as the heating and gas sector. Safety is a core part of the training and development we undertake with our students and I hope that health and safety compliance is treated equally as seriously by employers to protect their employees and customers.

If anything, these new proposals provide an additional reason for owners of gas and heating companies as well as self-employed engineers to take another look at their safety procedures to ensure that they are water-tight and that there are no gaps. The penalties of non-compliance do not only come down to money, we can very often be talking about life or death.

It is our responsibility to ensure that the work we carry out is of the highest standards in both workmanship and safety.