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Public safety top priority for new Gas Safe RegisterTM
On 1 April 2009, the new Gas Safe RegisterTM replaces the CORGI gas installer scheme as Great Britain’s gas safety authority.
By law, from 1 April, only Gas Safe Register engineers should be employed to carry out work on gas installations or appliances – CORGI gas registration will not be valid. The 55,000 engineers currently verified under the CORGI scheme are now registering with Gas Safe Register so they can continue to work legally from April.
Keeping the public safe is Gas Safe Register’s top priority. If someone other than a Gas Safe Register engineer carries out gas work at your home, you could be risking the safety of your family and your property.
Simple search and verification
Finding a Gas Safe Register engineer will be simple. From 1 April, you will be able to find an engineer in your area online – at www.gassaferegister.co.uk – or by calling 0800 408 5500.
Registered engineers will be identified with the new yellow Gas Safe Register logo, (see top of page) and every engineer will carry a Gas Safe Register ID card with their own unique number (see example below).
The message from Gas Safe Register is clear. Before you have any gas work done in your home, make sure you check the card.
Gas Safe Register has made it easy to check that an engineer is safe and legal. Simply phone or SMS their ID number to Gas Safe Register and receive a confirmation MMS by return showing a photograph of the engineer registered with that number.
Combating illegal engineers
In line with its aim to make Great Britain gas safe, Gas Safe Register will work to improve consumer awareness of gas safety issues and target unregistered engineers.
Incorrectly fitted, badly repaired or poorly maintained gas appliances are a major cause of carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning. They can also lead to gas leaks and explosions. On average over 25 people a year die from CO poisoning, and many more suffer health problems from CO exposure directly related to gas. Around 40 people a year are killed or injured in gas explosions. (Source: HSE Gas Safety Statistics)
Said Ann Robinson, Gas Safe Register’s director of public awareness: “Gas safety is a life or death matter that affects the entire nation. As the official stamp for gas safety in Great Britain from 1 April, Gas Safe Register will raise public awareness of the dangers of using unregistered engineers and explain how easy it is to avoid them by always using a registered engineer.”
Ann Robinson continued: “We will be encouraging consumers to make sure their work is carried out competently and safely by always asking to see a Gas Safe Register engineer’s ID card. If they are at all suspicious that a trader offering gas services is unregistered, they can prevent lives from being endangered by reporting the individual to the Gas Safe Register and we will work with the Health and Safety Executive and trading standards to investigate and take action against those trading illegally.”
For more information contact:
Ridgemount PR. Tel: 020 8943 9349
Email: gas.safe@ridgemountpr.co.uk
ABOUT GAS SAFE REGISTER™
Gas Safe Register™ is the registration body appointed by the Health and Safety Executive to manage the gas safety register in Great Britain from 1 April 2009. It is a legal requirement for anyone carrying out domestic and commercial gas work to be registered, and comply with the Gas Safety (Installation & Use) Regulations 1998.
The register of gas engineers held by Gas Safe Register is there to protect people from dangerous gas work. Gas Safe Register will assess the competence of individual engineers by inspecting the gas work they have carried out. They will do this to make sure engineers are safe to work on gas. Gas Safe Register is focused on gas safety and will campaign to raise awareness of gas safety risks associated with using illegal gas installers.
Gas Safe Register is a brand name owned by the Health and Safety Executive and used by Capita Gas and Ancillary Services Limited, a division of the Capita Group Plc. For more information visit www.GasSafeRegister.co.uk
Additional notes:
The CORGI gas register in Great Britain will end on 31 March 2009 – there is no period of dual running of CORGI gas register and Gas Safe Register and no grace period. To continue to carry out gas work from 1 April next year, existing CORGI installers must be on the new register. Gas Safe Register deals with all aspects of the downstream gas industry covered by the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998. It covers both piped natural gas and liquid propane gas (LPG).
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