Letting unskilled tradespeople into your home can potentially put lives at risk, yet more than half of Brits hire a gas heating engineer without checking their legal qualifications.
The Gas Safe Register 2018 findings show that in the UK a TV guide is checked by 85% of people, holiday reviews by 74%, and 69% of people look up restaurant ratings. Ironically 74% read about what their next phone should be, yet don’t all use a phone to do a quick check on the safe registration of their gas engineer.
The research by Gas Safe Register – formerly known as Corgi – reveals that just two in five people (41%) who choose a gas business check the register to ensure legal qualifications. A whopping 59% let tradespeople work on their home gas appliances without knowing whether they have the necessary training and skills.
A personal recommendation from friends
The potential consequences of letting unqualified tradespeople into your home are well known. Top stories hit the headlines when people die by suspected carbon monoxide poisoning. Something as simple as improper ventilation of a gas appliance can be deadly.
Home buyers always insist on gas safety certificates that comply with the current regulations. Failing to receive an official Gas Safe certificate can cause cost in the long term. New boilers are expensive, but the inability to supply a Gas Safe certificate when selling a property can be more expensive. Retrospectively awarding a legally required certificate for your gas installation might be difficult to achieve as it’s at the discretion of the gas safety engineer.
It’s easy to search the official list of businesses legally permitted to carry out gas work. The Gas Safe Register website has a simple to use search page to find an engineer. Find a gas safe business and gas safe engineer in your area. Every Gas Safe engineer should carry an ID card. To check if the engineer qualifications are current and up-to-date, you can enter the ID card licence number into the search. Annually issued new ID cards each have a different licence number.
To stay safe, follow the Gas Safe Register advice:
Understand the symptoms of CO poisoning. They can start with headaches, breathlessness, nausea and dizziness before collapse and loss of consciousness.
If you think there’s a gas leak or smell gas, call the national gas emergency number immediately – night or day.
Never work on or service a gas appliance yourself. Always seek the help of a Gas Safe qualified engineer for your cooker, fire, boiler or any other gas appliance.
Plumb London are specialists when it comes to providing gas heating services in London from central heating installations to boiler repairs. We cover the whole of London including Central, North, East, West, South East and South West London. Contact us today for a no obligation quote.
