HSE Warning on Gas Safety Following Prosecution

Home owners are being warned by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE)
to check that gas installers are properly registered and hold a
current 'Gas Safe Register' identity card.

This warning comes after the prosecution of Mr Kevin Hall of Cannock,
trading as Norfix Plumbing and Heating. He has been jailed for 84 days
for breaching Health and Safety legislation.

Hall was sentenced on 9th June 2009 at Cannock Magistrates Court after
pleading guilty to two counts of breaching Section 33(1)(g) of the
Health & Safety at Work etc Act1974. He was carrying out gas work in
contravention of a Prohibition Notice.

The HSE started an investigation into Mr Hall's work after receiving a
complaint concerning gas work he'd undertaken in a house in Cannock in
2008. Mr Hall had replaced an old gas boiler, after falsely claiming
that he was CORGI registered.

Before April 2009, when the Gas Safe Register was introduced, gas
engineers were legally required to be CORGI registered. Mr Hall used
another engineer's CORGI registration number on paperwork that he gave
to the householder.

When inspected by a CORGI registered engineer, his work was found to
be 'not up to current standards' although the work did not appear to
pose any major risks to the occupants.

Mr Hall was issued a Prohibition Notice in July 2008, preventing him
from carrying out any further gas installation work. HSE staff tried
many times to contact Mr Hall, however he failed to respond. The HSE
investigation uncovered further boiler installations in Cannock and
nearby Brocton that had been completed in December 2008, after the
Prohibition Notice had been served. At both of these addresses, Mr
Hall had falsely claimed to be registered with CORGI and left the
households with heating systems without hot water.

Although the installations were not immediately dangerous, the works
carried out did not comply with the current standards, and households
did not receive any paperwork to certify that the work had been
carried out according to gas safety regulations.

Speaking after the case, HSE investigating inspector Andrew Bowker said:

"Kevin Hall continued to do sub-standard gas work without
registration. The work has needed to be put right by registered
engineers. Fortunately, in this instance, no one died or became ill.
Such a blatant disregard for the law will not be ignored by HSE.

"By failing to be correctly registered with CORGI, Hall gained
financial advantage over bona fide registered installers. However, the
householders incurred additional costs in remedial work so their
installations were a false economy.

"Every effort was made to contact Mr Hall in order to resolve the
situation before proceedings were brought, so he was well aware that
he was acting unlawfully.

"HSE would urge anyone having gas work undertaken to ensure that the
contractor carries a 'Gas Safe Register' identity card. Tenants must
also ensure that their landlord has provided them with a current gas
safety certificate."