Community service for unregulated gas fitter
Health & Safety update 13/10/2011
A builder in Scotland has received a Community Service Order for
carrying out gas installation work that he was not qualified or
registered to do.
Kevin Graham, from Lockerbie, carried out the work on a house in
Ecclefechan near Dumfries, for which he had been originally
contracted to carry out the general building and plastering work.
He offered to install the owner's gas fire - telling the owner that
it was simple to do and he had done it in his own home.
The installation of gas fittings, however, can only legally be
carried out by a Gas Safe registered engineers, and Mr Graham was
caught out when a qualified engineer took a look at the fitting,
after the owner had reported smelling leaking gas.
A Gas Safe Register Inspector subsequently found that the fire
and its whole supply pipe were unsafe, and that soldered joints
were being stressed in ways that were causing them to leak.
Graham pleaded guilty at Dumfries Sheriff Court this week to
breaching the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998
Regulation 3(3) and 26(1) and Section 3(2) of the Health and Safety
at Work etc Act 1974. He was sentenced to 240 hours of community
service.
Health and Safety Executive Inspector Russell Berry said Mr
Graham had put the lives of everyone living in the house at risk
from carbon monoxide poisoning, fire and explosion.
"On average, 20 people each year die from carbon monoxide
poisoning caused by poorly installed, maintained or ventilated gas
appliances and flues," he said. "In this case, the occupiers of
this house were very lucky indeed not to have suffered any medical
ill effects."
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