Cowboy gas fitter sentencing underlines gas safety importance

Post By: Shona Innes

Gas detectors can be useful even when work appears to have been done legitimately, as the story of one Rochdale gas fitter shows.

The recent sentencing of a Rochdale gas fitter who illegally carried out work at three homes in the area could
encourage companies to consider implementing gas detection and monitoring equipment to ensure the safety of staff and the public.

According to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), Paul Gregory used a fake Gas Safe Register number when completing formal documents and carried out work on three houses in 2011.

Trafford Magistrates' Court heard how he installed a new boiler and gas hob at a property on Holmes Street, but his shortcomings were discovered when the homeowner contacted the National Grid to change the meter from pay-as-you-go to a conventional unit.

The engineer sent to carry out the work noticed that the hob was unsafe and cut off the gas supply to the device.

Upon further inspection, it was discovered that Mr Gregory had also carried out gas safety checks at properties on Hendriff Place in Rochdale and Garden Street in Milnrow.

After pleading guilty to five breaches of the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998, he was told to carry out 300 hours of unpaid work in the community over the next year and ordered to repay prosecution costs of £2,279.

HSE inspector Philip Strickland explained that even property owners who mean well can be duped by cowboy gas fitters such as Mr Gregory.

"Landlords rely on annual gas safety checks to make sure their properties are safe, but the checks Mr Gregory completed were worthless," he said, adding that it was "only luck" that no one was injured in this case.

"Gas work has the potential to cost lives if it is not carried out by qualified gas fitters. We will therefore continue to prosecute anyone who ignores the law."

The events could serve to highlight the need for products such as area gas monitors in high-risk places.

Other important safety considerations include the potential use of breathing apparatus for workers dealing with asbestos.  A range of both breathing apparatus and portable and fixed gas systems can be found on the Frontline Safety website.  Frontline Safety also install, commission and maintain fixed gas systems, providing a reliable solution to gas detection.

This is particularly pertinent after a Kent-based business director was recently given a suspended jail sentence for removing asbestos without licence and providing homeowners with a doctored air test saying the room was safe to re-enter.

Posted by Shona Innes