A gas safety register for the digital age

                                                                                         

The UK now has a new gas safety body to replace the old CORGI register. The Gas Safe Register is really a form of quality control for the whole of the UK's gas industry. Only registered Gas Safe engineers are legally qualified to fix or install any gas appliances in your home or in the workplace. The Gas Safe register allows you to register any gas work that you have had done, be it good or bad, to be checked by them as a means of vetting the work carried out by its engineers.

Who runs Gas Safe Register? - The Gas Safe Register is run by Capita Gas Registration and Ancillary Services Limited, which is a division of the Capita Group Plc. The UK Health and Safety Executive (HSE) have appointed the Capita Group to the running of the official gas registration body for Great Britain.

In 2006 the British Health and Safety Executive carried out a review of UK gas safety, after which it was decided that a new form of gas registration and gas work monitoring was needed. The purpose of the new Gas Safe Register is to ensure the safety of all UK citizens who require gas works to be carried out in their domestic or commercial property.

What about CORGI and all of its CORGI registered engineers? - From 31st March 2009 CORGI ended its run as the UK's official gas safety body. Engineers and plumbers that were registered with CORGI must now register with Gas Safe instead, and any gas work you have done in your home or workplace must be carried out by them, and not a CORGI registered engineer or plumber.

Why do I need to use a Gas Safe registered engineer? - The standard of gas works carried out in your home is vitally important to the safety of yourself and your family. Carbon monoxide, gas leaks and explosions are very real dangers that can occur when gas work and repairs are carried out badly, or if gas appliances are poorly maintained. For this reason, the qualifications of those involved in installing, maintaining a repairing gas appliances needs to be of the highest order, and anyone registered with gas safe can be trusted to have the right qualifications and safety know how.

What do engineers have to do to register? - All Gas Safe registered engineers have been checked to ensure that they are competent and qualified to work safely and legally with gas. Gas Safe ID cards are only given to legally registered engineers as proof of their registration, and the card also lets you know how qualified they are to carry out various types of work around your home.

How do I make sure that my engineer is qualified to do the work? - You can look through the Gas Safe Register's database of currently registered engineers and plumbers online on the Gas Safe website, or you can give them a call on 0800 408 5500. If you have already hired an engineer and want to check his qualifications then the Gas Safe website offers their Check An Engineer service where you can check quickly and easily, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, if your workman is safe. The online information will let you know exactly what your engineer is qualified for, so that you can check whether it is safe to hire them to carry out specific work in your home. Be sure to check your engineer's ID card too as this will also tell you exactly what kind of work the engineer is entitled to carry out.

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