9 November 2007
The government's Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has issued a warning to householders to check the credentials of gas fitters.
All who work with domestic gas appliances should be registered with CORGI, the UK's gas safety watchdog.
To illustrate its concerns, the HSE cited yesterday the case of a Wrexham fitter it recently prosecuted for lacking such a licence.
Nigel Chadwick was ordered to pay a total of £2,000, after being found in breach of the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations, 1998.
The HSE found that the unregistered worker had failed to identify a gas leak while working at a house in Wrexham - and was therefore responsible for increasing the householder's fire risk.
Inspector for the executive Barbara Francis commented: "We will prosecute people who work on gas appliances without the proper accreditation. In this case, the risk was fire or explosion but improperly maintained appliances can also give rise to carbon monoxide (CO) which is potentially lethal.
"The law requires that only trained, competent people work on gas appliances, and the only accreditation currently recognised by HSE is membership of CORGI - if you are having gas work done, always check the fitter's CORGI identity card before you let them start work."
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