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Infringements of Gas Safety (Installation and Use) .....
Infringements of Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 reported in SW England
HSE says that it is uncovering a surprising number of individuals carrying out gas work without CORGI (Council for Registered Gas Installers) registration.
HSE is proactively responding to this threat to public safety with Prohibition Notices and prosecutions and wishes to publicise that it is an offence under:
r.3(3) of the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 for anyone to work on a gas fitting who is not a member of a body approved by HSE, currently Corgi is the only approved body; and
r. 3(7) for someone to falsely pretend to be Corgi registered when they are not.
No CORGI membership
Several individuals in SW England have recently been prosecuted for breaching these Regulations:
fined a total of £1,500 plus £811 costs - for attempting to replace a boiler system which was then left in such a state that further work was needed to bring it up to acceptable standards, the work involved breaches of formal Prohibition and Improvement Notices (requiring cessation of gas work) and breach of gas regulations for undertaking work without being a member of CORGI;
200 hours community service and fined £867 costs - for installing a combi boiler, removing an old gas boiler and fitting a cooker hob, the installation of the boiler left the homeowner with no heater for over 2 weeks and also left a gas pipe improperly sealed, leading to a potential gas leak, the boiler was immediately turned off by another gas fitter as soon as he saw it, as it was extremely dangerous; he was charged with breaches of falsely pretending to be a member of CORGI and undertaking work whilst not being a member of CORGI;
200 hours community service and ordered to pay £500 towards the total costs of £2,000 - for carrying out servicing work on a number of appliances and properties for a landlord over a period of time, leaving the landlord with a series of safety certificates which were not legal and appliances which were unsafe, HSE had previously warned him not to carry out such work and he had acknowledged in writing that such work would be illegal. He was charged with undertaking work without being registered and falsely pretending to be a member of CORGI (he had signed the safety certificates and was therefore deliberately misleading people).
Comment:
"Unfortunately there are many people working on gas appliances who are not registered, and we are working to identify them and to take the necessary enforcement action. However, the customer also has a role to play. They need to check that anyone they ask to do gas work is CORGI registered. However, care is needed as some unregistered installers falsely claim to be CORGI members. Genuine Registered Installers carry a photographic identification card and their details can also be checked with Corgi by calling 0870 -4012300 or by checking the website at
http://www.corgi-gas-safety.com/.
If you use someone who is not registered, there's a good chance that the work will not be up to scratch. Poor standards of installation or maintenance could have serious - or even fatal - results, whether you're a private homeowner, tenant or landlord. This could be from Carbon Monoxide fumes or fire or explosion from gas leaks. You may think that you are saving money but many people find they have to pay twice - assuming they don't pay with their life! - once to the unregistered installer and then to a CORGI member in order for the work to be done properly." - HSE Principal Inspector.
25.09.06
