Do you suspect that someone is working on gas appliances without being Gas Safe registered?
By law, all engineers undertaking gas work in the United Kingdom, Isle of Man, and Guernsey must be registered with Gas Safe Register. Businesses can only register if their engineers are competent and hold up to date and appropriate qualifications.You can check if your engineer is registered by using our 'check a gas engineer' service online or by calling us on 0800 408 5500.
Anybody who is carrying out gas work and is not registered with Gas Safe Register may be breaking the law. This includes a registered engineer working out of scope of their qualifications, a previously registered business continuing to work without registration, and gas workers who have never been registered.
Note: For information on what constitutes gas work, please see our Technical Bulletin 014 ‘Gas Work’ if you are a registered engineer, or contact our technical department if you are a customer. The technical department can be contacted by phoning 0800 408 5577 or 01256 650 005 and pressing option 1, or emailing technical@gassaferegister.co.uk.
Reporting illegal gas work as an engineer
Firstly, make sure the installation is safe. Next, follow the steps below.Note: It is not acceptable for a Gas Safe registered engineer to knowingly ‘sign off’ gas work that has been carried out by a person who is not registered in order to circumvent legal requirements. Where this has occurred, both the registered and unregistered gas worker may face prosecution.
Reporting illegal gas work as a customer
You can make your report via email, telephone (0800 408 5500), post, and online.Your initial report is received by our Customer Service Department. Here it is logged and you will be given a unique reference number.
What information do I need to give?
The initial information we need from you is the name and contact details of the person who carried out the gas work. You do not need to provide your name to make a report. Other useful information includes the name of the customer, and the address, type of work, and date the work was conducted.Note: Reported work must be within six years of age.
What happens next?
If it is suspected, from the information you provide, that the engineer is unregistered, the report is passed on to our National Investigations Team. A free inspection of the suspected gas work will be offered within 10 working days of receiving your report. This visit will last approximately two – three hours, and our Regional Investigations Officer will, with homeowner or landlord permission:
- Check for any damage on or around the gas appliances.
- Check there are no gas escapes.
- Check the chimney/flue for compliance.
- Check for adequate ventilation.
- Check for safe operation of the appliance installed by the unregistered person
Note: Homeowner permission for access to the site is necessary. Gas Safe Register does not hold any powers of entry.
What if the gas work IS unsafe?
Our Regional Investigations Officer will classify any gas safety faults found according to their severity. They will explain to the homeowner/landlord what this means and, with their permission, make the installation safe. The homeowner/landlord will be given a Warning Advice Notice which explains what is wrong with the work, and how to find a qualified and registered engineer to fix this. Gas Safe Register will even come back and check the work your registered engineer has done free of charge.
Finally, a formal written report will be sent to the homeowner/landlord within 10 working days. If you are a registered engineer reporting Illegal gas work, Gas Safe Register will endeavour to keep you informed, without breaching data protection aspects.
What happens to the illegal fitter?
If we have identified that an unregistered person undertook the gas work, they may have broken the law, such as The Gas Safety Regulations and the Health and Safety at Work Act. As Gas Safe Register does not hold any enforcement powers, we are obliged to provide a report to the relevant enforcement agency, the regional Health and Safety Executive, within 10 working days of the inspection. If appropriate we may also inform other enforcement agencies such as Trading Standards. In certain situations it is possible we may advise you to contact organisations such as Local Authority Environmental Health, Building Control, Citizens Advice Consumer Service, or small claims courts.For further information as to the outcome of the investigation, you may contact the Health & Safety Executive on 0300 003 1647.
Source: http://www.gassaferegister.co.uk/
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