Gas Safety

Landlord Organisations

Social housing providers and other landlords in the UK must ensure that their procedures meet legal requirements with regard to the gas installation and maintenance of gas appliances within their properties.

All landlords have a responsibility to ensure that their housing stocks are gas safe.
To achieve this, they should have in place an integrated gas safety management strategy that includes:

• Effective specification documentation.
• Effective and robust contractor selection process.
• Efficient and effective safety management procedures.
• Rigorous quality control audit inspections.
• Awareness training programs for non-technical staff.

The law requires landlords to carry out, at periods of no more than 12 months, a gas safety check on all appliances they own and to keep records of these checks for two years.
Contractor’s details also need to be kept up to date.

Corgi Registered Installation Businesses

Businesses that employ gas operatives must ensure that their procedures for managing gas safety are effective.
We can work with CORGI registered installing businesses to help them develop procedures and systems, including processes to ensure:

• All gas operatives employed hold current and relevant assessments for the work they carry out.
• Effective documentation is in place to record what work has been carried out, when, where and by whom.
• Rigorous quality control.
• Effective technical support

Competent/Responsible Person Status

Gas Management Team (GMT)

Competence: Gas Operative

Competence is deemed to be demonstrated/achieved when the individual gas operative has been issued with a certificate of competence for that area of gas work, by a certification body accredited by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS).
The operative must have successfully completed an assessment, at an assessment centre, which has been approved by an accredited certification body.
Competence: Gas Management Team (Landlords Organisations)
There are a variety of duties (1) and responsibilities (2) that all those involved in gas safety management need to be aware of and comply with as far as reasonably practical (3).
(1) A task or action that a person is bound to perform for moral or legal reasons and accepted as non-transferable.
(2) A position of control or authority and accountability for ones actions and decisions.
(3) Reasonably practicable means, what should be done unless totally impractical in which case, the responsible person would be held accountable for their actions.
As responsible persons (one in a position in control or authority and accountable for actions and decisions) the gas management team would display competence by initially reviewing and thereafter modifying, introducing, implementing and enforcing effective procedures and processes relating to the provision of gas safety and gas safe methods of working within the following areas of work: -

Gas Management Team

• Health & Safety Duties.
• Managing Recruitment & Selection.
• Gas Operative Competence Training.
• Supervisory Management.
• Quality Systems Management.
• Customer Complaints.
• Procedures & Documentation.
• Emergency Procedures.

For further detailed information relating to the above

With an up-to-date knowledge of all the relevant legislation, our consultants provide a client focused assessment of current and future systems and procedures. A review of procedures and documents can be carried out at a convenient time with minimal disruption caused to on-going operations. The resulting documentation report can be incorporated into existing ISO procedures.

HEALTH and SAFETY EXECUTIVE (HSE)

The aims and objectives of HSE are laid out in The Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 Approved Code of Practice (L56), which carry a special legal status. Failing to comply with the relevant provisions of the code may result in a prosecution under a breach of health and safety law. The code of Practice consists of those paragraphs which are identified as such in the document entitled Safety in the installation and use of gas systems and appliances.

The Code of Practice came into effect on 31st October 1998.

Council for Registered gas Installers (CORGI) – This is the organisation that is charged by the HSE to maintain a register of competent gas installers in Great Britain, Northern Ireland and the Isle of Man. It is a legal requirement for any businesses carrying out gas related work, in relevant premises, to be registered with CORGI.

CORGI provides each registered organisation/person a unique registration number per trading name used for their business. Each person registered to that business is provided with an identification card that displays relevant information regarding the registered company.

The card also contains the following information;

A photograph of the operative, their name, companies registration number, expiry date. The reverse of the card details the different types of gas works the operative is competent to undertake.

Operatives are not legally permitted to carry out any work not listed. Each gas operative is required to obtain competency certificates in areas of work they carry out. They are required to update their proof of competency regularly.

Each registered company is subject to an annual inspection by CORGI to ensure compliance with gas safe requirements.

CORGI as well as operating the register of competent gas installers investigate gas safety related complaints from the public; provide members of the public with details of registered gas installers.