Boiler fitted by unregistered guy. What do I do now?

I'm bored,actually I'm very very bored.
BANG!!! Thud!!! I'm dead.

 

Take a look at section 3 of the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations and you will discover the following:

1. It is a requirement that all persons who work on gas appliances be competent. The Act does not define competence, nor does it define qualification.
2. It is a requirement that employees or self employed people carrying out gas fitting work be a member of a "class of persons approved for time being by the Health and Safety Executive". (i.e. members of Gas Safe).

Nothing in the Act stipulates that people who are not employees or self employed are required to have specific qualifications or memberships.

This is something that the HSE have acknowledged in many studies over the years. Each time they have come to the conclusion that there is no evidence to suggest problems from competent people doing gas work for themselves. This has been in connection with a possible tightening of legislation. In addition they have realised that such legislation would be unenforceable anyway. In surveys of industry stakeholders, predictably the most vehement supporters have been those such as Gas Safe and the old CORGI with a commercial interest.

 

Look in section 3 at
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si1998/19982451.htm
It does go on to say that employed/self employed people (i.e. installers doing gas work for reward), must be a member of the class of persons, etc.

The HSE has this defined as being a member of Gas Safe. So there is nothing to say that you may explicitly do gas work if you are competent, only that you may not if you are not. This is a known hole in the legislation to which the HSE periodically refers. You can look up gas safety on their web site. The legislation here was put together following the explosions at the Ronan Point tower bock and various others, and was targeted to try and remove cowboy gas fitters from the market. How successful that is, is debatable. The HSE is also aware that DIY gas work happens and needless to say Gas Safe and other commercially interested parties would like to see it outlawed. If you look on their sites, you will see that they use weasel words like "may be illegal". Nonetheless, the HSE has not sought to do this to date, partly because there seems little evidence of problems and partly because of difficulty of enforcement.

In effect this means that you would not be breaking the law if you are competent, and there is no specific definition of what competent means in this context. The general definition is the results of your work.

If you work on gas installations and are not a member of Gas Safe and do it for no reward, it is totally legal as long as the result was competent

 

Sorry to trouble you again Walter, but exactly is it in the link below that you don't understand..

http://www.hse.gov.uk/toolbox/gas.htm

Really got better things to do on a Friday than have a pointless exchange with you, the law is clear, you are misleading people. So please leave this one alone and and start a new post on your experiences of putting Intergas Boilers up. Even though you are not GSR you presumably are quite happy to do it. Then someone can report you and take you to Court for Illegal gas work - then you'll have ample opportunity to argue your case in front of the Judge, just let us all know where and when so we can come and watch and see you win............or maybe not.

 

My turn to copy and paste Walter.. Form the article GiF links to.

I've highlighted and enlarged, some words for you Walt.

 

Phil, Dave, Meady & JJ, that HSE link clearly applies to those employed in the 'gas' industry - 'professionals' - and not to us 'commoners'.

Clearly those who are employed and self-employed in the gas appliance industry must abide by certain laws and regulations, of which probably the key one is that they must be 'GasSafe' registered which gives their customers that assurance & guarantee of their competence.

And amen to that.

But I am as certain as I can be (let's call it 99-ish percent...) that there is nothing that outlaws a DIYer from carrying out gas work in their own home, provided it's done properly - ie is a 'competent' install.

Are you saying that this is not the case?

If the law were as clear as "no-one on this planet is permitted to install a gas boiler unless they are GasSafe registered", then I simply would not have done so.


Absolutely, what Mr Lahey's 'plumber' did was illegal, since he is self-employed in the plumbing industry. And the GasSafe cove who was meant to check the install afterwards and fill out the benchmark was similarly treading on thin ice. My guess is that, if caught, the plumber could face criminal prosecution and the GasSafe cove would at the very least have his GS cert removed so he could no longer carry out installs (legally...)

Clearly Mr Lahey's plumber is not the most conscientious bloke 'cos he must know all this, but has still left his customer - and family friend - dangling, not knowing if things are ok or not.

Having said that, the chances are almost certain that his install was 'competent' and, had his GS colleague done what he was asked - checked and certified the install - then all would be well and everyone would be happy.

Naughty, but happy.


Pleeeeeze, pleeeeez let's draw a line under this .

 

Please do not cross this line.
__________________________________________________________________

 

So we've all posted actually links to the HSE and Walt appears to have copied and pasted and extract from?...................

Does anyone remember the TV program Henry's cat? How did the theme tune go: " He knows everything about nothing and not too much about that"

 

Oi!!!!! Stu read the blooooody sign.

 

DA,, nowhere in the link does it even mention the employment status of the person undertaking gas work. It clearly states It is illegal for an unregistered person to carry out work on any domestic gas appliance.

No mention of being employed for financial or other gain.

 

Oi!! JJ you need to read the sign as well.

 

Oi, PB.

 

Right Phil that's it go and sit on the naughty step and think about what you have done.

 

Sorry Phil but you had been warned.

 

See this threads better already.COOL

 

You are right - it doesn't mention employed status. But that's because it's a site that's aimed at employers and industry, not peeps at home.

'Fess up, JJ - you do know, don't you, that an orn'ary cove can quite legally do gas work such as fitting a boiler in his own home provided it's been done according to the full installation requirements? I bet you do know this. You do, don't you?

 

You've ruined it,ahh I give up.

 

It's only the hairs on a gooseberry that stop it from being a grape!.

 

Ah, Confucius...

Or someone.

He of the "When man go to bed with sex problem, he wake up with solution in hand."