Gas safe News 2009
Public safety top priority for new Gas Safe Register
2 February 2009
On 1 April 2009, the new Gas Safe Register™ replaces the CORGI
gas registration scheme as Great Britain's gas safety
authority.
By law, from 1 April, only Gas Safe registered engineers should
be employed to carry out work on gas installations or appliances,
CORGI gas registration will not be valid. The 120,000 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 registered engineer carries out gas
work at your home, you could be risking the safety of your family
and your property.
Finding a Gas Safe registered engineer will be simple. From 1
April, you will be able to find an engineer in your area online at
or by calling 0800 408 5500.
Registered engineers will be identified with the new yellow Gas
Safe Register logo, and every engineer will carry a Gas Safe
Register ID card with their own unique licence number.
The message from Gas Safe Register is clear. Before you have any
gas work done in your home, make sure you check the card.
The
primary aim of Gas Safe Register is to help make Great Britain gas
safe. The new scheme will work to improve consumer awareness of gas
safety issues and target unregistered installers.
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 new hallmark for gas safety in Great Britain
from 1 April, Gas Safe Register will raise public awareness of the
dangers of using unregistered installers 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 registered 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.
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