GAS SAFE NEWS 2012

Gas Safe Register improves gas safety for the British public

2nd April 2012

Three years since replacing CORGI, new statistics reveal Brits are more protected from unsafe gas work:

• 2,000 cowboy gas fitters across the country have been investigated
• £500,000 worth of fines have been paid by fitters prosecuted for illegal gas work
• Seven illegal gas fitters have been imprisoned for putting lives in danger
• 120,000 homes have been safety checked
• Eight in 10 people are now aware of the register and the importance of gas safety

New statistics from Gas Safe Register reveal how gas safety has improved for the British public in the past three years. Gas Safe Register has targeted nearly 2,000 cowboy gas fitters during this time, which has resulted in £500,000 worth of fines being paid by illegal gas fitters and the imprisonment of seven cowboys for carrying out dangerous gas work. Gas Safe Register estimates there are 7,500 cowboy gas fitters operating across the country without the skills or qualifications to do the job safely.

In three years, Gas Safe Register has also checked the safety of nearly 120,000 gas jobs, carried out by legal registered engineers. The total number of safety checks has increased by 25 per cent in three years – the equivalent of 24,000 more homes.

Commenting on the improvements in gas safety, Gas Safe Register’s chief executive, Paul Johnston, said: “Gas safety is a life or death matter that affects the entire nation. The Register was launched in 2009 to deliver a sharper focus on gas safety and to protect the public from dangerous and illegal work. We have made significant improvements: before we launched in 2009 only seven in 10 people understood gas risks and that a register existed. We have now increased this awareness to eight in 10 people, which amounts to tens of thousands of people across the country.”

Barry Sheerman MP, co chair of the All Party Parliamentary Gas Safety Group (APPGSG) said:

“Gas Safe Register’s contribution to public safety over the past three years has been invaluable. The Register has provided a fresh approach to raising awareness of gas dangers to the public and as a result we hope this will reduce the number of deaths relating to gas.”

Gas Safe Register estimates that a quarter of a million illegal gas jobs are carried out every year by cowboys who do not have the skills or qualifications to do the work safely. These jobs cost the public £100 million to rectify. Research shows that the public are still too trusting of tradesmen, with one in three trusting a tradesman to work on their gas appliances on recommendation alone. In a bid to keep Britain gas safe, the Register promises to increase the number of investigations of illegal gas work by 50 per cent, investigating another 3,000 cowboys in the next three years.

Paul Johnston added: “Our fight against illegal gas work continues. Too many people are caught out by illegal gas fitters who put their homes and families in immediate danger and the work costs thousands to rectify. As well as raising awareness of the dangers of using unregistered gas fitters, we also need to encourage more people to get their gas appliances checked regularly, as this can be just as dangerous. Of the 21 million homes with gas in the UK, nine million haven’t had their appliances checked annually, which is concerning.”

Badly fitted and poorly maintained gas appliances can kill. In the UK in the last year 10 people died and more than 330 were injured from gas related incidents. There were a further 50 accidental deaths and 4,000 A&E attendances relating to CO poisoning last year.

Gas Safe Register in numbers, then and now:

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