Gas Safe Register

[mick]

Can you feel a moan coming on?

Has anyone ever had cause for dealings with this organisation? Apparently the Gas Safe Register replaced the CORGI registration in 2009 and "is the official list of gas engineers who are qualified to work legally on gas appliances".

The Gas Safe Register website states "We are happy to investigate any gas safety complaints you may have about work carried out by a registered engineer, be it at your property or another address." 

Short story: My mother had her gas boiler serviced and the Gas Safe Registered engineer informed her that the boiler required some parts but in the meantime it was safe to use as normal. The parts would be fitted at a later date. He left her a completed form and told her not to wait in as they had a number of other boilers which also required similar parts fitting.

It wasn't until later that my mother took notice of the form the engineer had left her. It was headed 'Warning Notice - Danger Do Not Use' and he had recorded the boiler as being 'unsafe' and 'at risk' (section 3). Below section 5 of the form it clearly states that 'For your own safety 'Immediately Dangerous and At Risk gas appliances / installations should not be used'.

I have erased my mothers personal details for safety and the name & licence number of the gas safe registered engineer to save him any possible embarrassment.

My Mother contacted Wakefield District Housing who simply informed her that the boiler was safe to use and that this is how the engineers record these problems. I didn't think this was right and so I contacted Gas Safe Register to complain and notify them of the procedure's being followed. To keep this short they simply fobbed me off without any concern whatsoever. It would seem that they are quite happy for one of their registered engineers to inform an elderly lady that her boiler is safe to use as normal while leaving her with a completed form on which he has recorded that it is unsafe and at risk - Danger Do Not Use! He even had the cheek to get her to sign the form after telling her it was safe to use! Talk about covering your own back!

What on earth is the point of the Gas Safe Register? It's clearly a complete waste of time but although I expected much better I am not surprised by the response I received as it seems to be par for the course everywhere these days. 

 

[roddy]

As far as I am concerned Mick, if the engineer deemed the boiler unsafe, he should have disabled it so that it could not be used. I would take this to Trading Standards as something is clearly not right.

[roddy]

Mick. I have a good friend who is a Consumer Champion in Suffolk. She advises to contact your local Citizens advice who will get onto the case if it is thought necessary. The other possibility is Ofgem.

ok not sure trading standards , but get him to speak to citizens advice on 03454 040506 and get advice there, they will pass it on to his mothers local trading standards office if they feel it needs looking into further

 

 

i would think maybe contactng Ofgem would be better.

 

[mick]

Thanks for that Roddy and would you pass on my appreciation to your friend for her advice too.

To expand on this, I also made a complaint to Wakefield District Housing who replied on 25 Sept 2019 with "Your enquiry has been sent to the Gas Team Manager. They will contact you as soon as possible."  I am still waiting for that contact but my mother has since received a postal letter from them with an assurance that her boiler is safe to use along with a replacement form, though I haven't seen what details have been entered on that.

The focus of my post was simply to highlight the lack of any concern shown by the Gas Safe Register to a procedure that appears to be the norm with Gas Safe Registered engineers working at/for Wakefield District Housing. I am lost for words to describe how I feel about the Gas Safe Register organisation because with such apparent disregard for procedure why does it exist? I may even contact Health and Safety Executive, under which it operates via the 2009 agreement, to take this further.

In a (perhaps generic) response from Gas Safe Register they simply advised me to "....contact Cadent (the emergency gas services) who would be able to attend the property within  a few hours and check the appliance...". I Googled 'Cadent' and found that they are responsible for the installation of gas pipework from the network to household meters. Their website states that if you have a problem with a gas appliance you should contact a registered gas engineer. And that was the best that the Gas Safe Register could advise!

You're left with the impression of an organisation sat there with feet on desks receiving millions of pounds of public money for doing nothing at all.

 

[roddy]

Good Luck with it Mick. Here is an example from 2004 when I started working for myself with a little Donut trailer. I bought the trailer brand new from a reputable supplier, and with it came a certificate of safety from the Corgi engineer, even though it was Propane powered. I started work and Environmental Health appeared of course for the first inspection. They wanted an isolating valve fitted. I argued the point, that it was certified as safe by the regulating body, and who were the Environmental Health people to tell me different. If I changed it to suit them, what happens to my certificate of safety? He cleared off and came back within the hour with his boss, who agreed with his man that an isolating valve should be fitted. After some time of discussion, he said that he would have to contact the Health and Safety Executive to find out who was right or wrong. That was in early 2004 and I still have no answer. I retired over 8 years ago. Heads and backsides come to mind.

I shall pass on your thanks to Pat. 

 

[mick]

Finally, I've received a response from Gas Safe Register, i.e "Gas Safe Register takes all matters concerning public safety where gas is involved extremely seriously.... I will arrange retraining with the advisor concerned to explain the course of action that should have been taken" and so on. But this arrived only after I had contacted the Health & Safety Executive regarding my concerns. I doubt I would have heard anything further from them had I not done something about it.

However, it doesn't and can never alter the fact that I received a very poor response to the concerns I raised with them. I see no reason why I need to thank them for their later apology.