How to tell Immediately Dangerous from At Risk, the details that move a fault from one to the other, and why a safe shortfall is neither.
One question decides it
Ask: if this stays connected to gas, is it a danger to life or property now? If yes, it is Immediately Dangerous (ID). If it could become dangerous in future, it is At Risk (AR). A shortfall against a newer standard that you have assessed as safe is neither: record it as advice, outside the unsafe procedure.
Details that change the category
- Combustion readings. Unsatisfactory readings on a flueless appliance are ID; on a flued appliance they are AR.
- Signs of incomplete combustion. Flueless: ID. Flued: AR, unless spillage or leakage is evident, which makes it ID.
- Clearances around an open-flued appliance. Below the manufacturer's minimum with signs of distress: ID. Below the minimum with no distress: AR.
- Sample point caps on a room-sealed appliance. Flue gas sample cap missing or damaged: ID, whether or not you can see leakage. Air inlet cap or combustion-circuit grommets missing, with no evidence of leakage: AR. Evidence of leakage, distress or a CO alarm activating makes any of these ID.
- A room-sealed flue ending in a covered passageway. Products entering the building: ID. A risk that they may enter: AR.
- A flue terminal too close to an opening. Clearances exist so products disperse outside instead of finding their way back in. Assess the real risk before you classify: a few minutes without seeing products come back in does not prove it is safe. Products entering the building, or a CO alarm or symptoms where the terminal could let products in, make it ID; a real risk that products may enter makes it AR.
Traps
- An appliance that lights and runs normally can still be unsafe.
- A passed spillage test does not prove every flue joint is sound.
- Several minor defects can add up to an unsafe situation.
- The customer's wishes, the cost of repair or a lack of parts never changes the classification.
- If you are unsure, seek further guidance rather than guessing.
- A CO alarm that has never sounded does not prove an appliance is safe. An alarm is a back-up that warns once carbon monoxide is already present; it never replaces your own checks.
- An occupant's circumstances do not change the category, because the category describes the danger from the appliance, not who relies on it. An At Risk fire that is an elderly person's only heating is still At Risk: take the same actions, explain them with care and help them arrange the repair and a safe way to keep warm.
- Where more than one appliance is unsafe, classify and deal with each one on its own findings rather than giving the whole property the worst category found. The warning notice lists each appliance, where it is, what is wrong and the category applied.