Firstly, if you need to employ someone to work on your gas appliance or installation (for example, a gas boiler), they must be on the Gas Safe Register (which replaced CORGI). Visit the Gas Safe Register website or ring 0800 408 5500 to check if someone is a member. It is against the law for them to do gas work without being registered.
Secondly, if you are using builders and they are taking care of the subcontracting for you, you should still make sure that the person they are using to do the gas work is on the Gas Safe Register. According to the Register, last year over 100,000 home improvement projects being managed by builders left homeowners with illegal and dangerous gas works, leaving them unaware until it was too late. 1 in 7 of these were declared to be ‘immediately dangerous’, needing to be disconnected immediately to avoid explosion, fire, gas leak or carbon monoxide poisoning.
Thirdly, always ask to see the gas engineers Gas Safe Register ID card to ensure the specific person who is going to do the work on your gas appliance is registered and that he is registered to do the type of gas work you need doing. Images of what this ID card should look like are below or you can watch a short video on the Gas Safe Register website (above).
Fourthly, the Gas Safe Register recommends you have your gas appliances regularly serviced and an annual gas safety check undertaken. If you rent your home, your landlord must keep the gas appliances supplied to you in good condition, arrange gas safety checks every 12 months and give you a record of the check.
Carbon monoxide is a highly poisonous gas. You can’t see it, taste it or smell it, but it can kill quickly with no warning. If you have any concerns about an appliance or the work you have done, get it checked out. In fact if you have had gas work done in your property in the last six months, you can nominate it for a free gas safety inspection by contacting the Gas Safe Register. For further information on this or on gas safety more generally, visit the Gas Safe Register website.