The Gas Safe Register celebrates its first anniversary on 1st April and it has now firmly embedded itself in the minds of consumers looking to have gas work done in their homes.

For those working directly with gas the switch from Corgi has also been straightforward and almost universal. The Register now holds registrations for over 60,000 businesses and will continue to grow in 2010 when businesses from Guernsey and Northern Ireland also come aboard.

Those working with gas may be familiar with the rules and their responsibilities but what about those in the broader construction trades who may be working alongside them?

Under Regulation 8 of the Gas Safety (Installation & Use) Regulations 1998, those working in trades other than gas also have a legal duty not to compromise the safety of gas installations in the course of their work.

Jamie Cooper, Technical Support Manager for Gas Safe Register said:

"We all recognise that health and safety should always come first as part of any building project. But where gas installations are concerned, like gas engineers, all trades have a legal duty to make sure that the work carried out doesn’t make an installation unsafe."

"For example, roofers must check that they are not adversely affecting a flue system; kitchen fitters must take care not to build a cupboard too close to a cooker; and double glazing fitters must not block essential ventilation when putting up new windows. It is also essential that any gas work undertaken on a building project is carried out by a Gas Safe registered engineer. Remember it is not permissible to have gas work undertaken by someone else signed-off by a registered engineer."

"An awareness of the risks is a key first step. In some cases other trades may not even have considered that their work could impact upon the safe operation of gas appliances."

Unfortunately there is no ‘one size fits all’ guidance with regards to ultimate legal responsibility:

"The Health & Safety at Work Act is the ‘umbrella’ legislation in this context and any work carried out must meet its requirements. In cases where responsibility is disputed it can ultimately come down to a court to decide."

If you are carrying out any work which you think may fall within the scope of ‘gas work’, including flues, ventilation or suitable clearances around gas appliances you can obtain gas safety advice from the Gas Safe Register technical team on 0800 408 5500 and press Option 2.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 6th, 2010 at 10:46 am and is filed under Gas, Skills. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.