Health and Safety Failings – Gas Safe Register breaches lead to prosecution

Gas Safe Register breaches lead to prosecution

Key Facts:

• A plumber has been prosecuted for the second time in four months for breaching Gas Safe Register legislation.
• The plumber carried out gas works whilst not registered and in breach of an HSE Prohibition Notice.
• He was given a 6 month suspended sentence.

The Case: 

A Bude based plumber has been prosecuted by the HSE for the second time in four months.

A further HSE investigation found that the plumber had been undertaking gas work while not on the Gas Safe Register. He was found guilty of breaches of  Regulation 3(3) and 33(1)(c) of the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 and Section 33(g) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.

The case was heard at Bodmin Magistrates’ Court in May 2015, where he was found guilty and given a 6 month prison sentence, suspended for 18 months.

His previous prosecution had been again for undertaking work while not on the Gas Safe Register, falsely using the Gas Safe Register logo, and breaching an HSE Prohibition Notice. Two days before pleading guilty to this, he installed another gas boiler illegally. He thereby breached other HSE Prohibition Notice, and failed to install the boiler according to the manufacturers instructions whilst he had not been commissioned, therefore rendering it unsafe to use.

What the HSE had to say: 

Speaking after the hearing, HSE inspector Simon Jones said

“Mr Congdon showed utter contempt for public safety when he continued to undertake gaswork when he knew he should not. Previous gaswork by Mr Congdon had been found to be substandard and posed a danger to the public.”

What the law states: 

Regulation 3(3) of the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 states:

“No employer shall allow any of his employees to carry out any work in relation to a gas fitting or service pipework and no self-employed person shall carry out any such work, unless the employer or self-employed person, as the case may be, is a member of a class of persons approved for the time being by the Health and Safety Executive for the purposes of this paragraph.”

Regulation 33(1)(c) of the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 states:

“Where a person installs a gas appliance at a time when gas is being supplied to the premises in which the appliance is installed, he shall immediately thereafter test its connection to the installation pipework to verify that it is gastight and examine the appliance and the gas fittings and other works for the supply of gas and any flue or means of ventilation to be used in connection with the appliance for the purpose of ascertaining whether (c) the appliance has been installed with due regard to any manufacturer’s instructions provided to accompany the appliance.

Section 33(g) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 states

‘it is an offence for a person to contravene any requirement or prohibition imposed by a prohibition notice

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