It’s not an over exaggeration to say that you place your life in the hands of any plumber you employ to work on your gas central heating system. Carbon monoxide (known as the silent killer) is colourless, tasteless and odourless, and a gas leak from your boiler is capable of rendering unconsciousness within a matter a minutes, and bringing on death within hours.
To ensure that you’re protected when work is undertaken on your gas appliances, you need to choose a ‘Gas Safe’ registered professional – but what does this accreditation really mean, and how can you check that the plumber you use is genuinely ‘Gas Safe’ registered? Let’s tackle both of these questions.
The ‘Gas Safe’
The Gas Safe Register is the official gas registration body for the United Kingdom, Isle of Man and Guernsey. Every gas engineer must be on the Gas Safe register. This body replaced the previous organisation, CORGI, as of 2009 and 2010 in the Isle of Man, and Northern Ireland and Guernsey respectively.
Today there are more than 70,000 businesses that are Gas Safe registered, with more than 120,000 engineers. To qualify for the register, businesses and their engineers must hold relevant qualifications (including ACS, NVQ/SVQ and Qualification Credit Framework [QCF]) and have evidence as to their professional competence.
Not only does the Gas Safe register demonstrate who is qualified to work on gas appliances, but the body also takes action against reports of illegal gas work. They gather evidence which is passed to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), who may then prosecute. Where a business or individual is found guilty of undertaking illegal gas work, the punishments are significant.
Taking one example, an unregistered plumber installed a gas cooker and a gas boiler at two separate residential properties, leaving the homes with work that was found to be dangerous. The plumber, Stephen Barton of Park Road, Dawlish, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 3(3) of the Gas Safety Installation and Use Regulations 1998 and breaching Section 3(2) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. He was ultimately sentenced to 300 hours of community service and a fine of £3,600.
Visit the Gas Safe Register Website
How do you check that a plumber is genuinely ‘Gas Safe’ registered?
You can use the Gas Safe Register website to search for a registered gas engineer by postcode. Gas Safe registered engineers are also obliged to carry photographic ID – this card will feature the following on the front:
- The engineer’s photo
- The start and expiry dates
- The license number
- The security hologram
- The engineer’s business name
On the back of the card, you should find:
- Qualifications relevant to the gas job you’ve employed them to do
- Up-to-date qualifications
Each and every one of our plumbers are Gas Safe registered and undertake work to the highest of safety standards. Entrust us with your essential boiler services – call us on 02082265499 or send us a message via email, on info@londoncityplumbers.co.uk.