Gas safety law: who must do what

The Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations exist to protect people from the dangers of gas: gas work done unsafely causes fires, explosions and carbon monoxide poisoning. That purpose, not paperwork, explains each duty below.

Who may do gas work

• Everyone doing gas work must be competent for it, including a householder working on their own home.
• Where the work is done by an employer's staff or a self-employed person, the business must also be on the Gas Safe Register, the official scheme for legal gas work, and the operative must be competent for that work.
• Registration covers only the categories you have been assessed as competent for, so take on only work in the categories you are currently registered for. A related trade qualification, or ACS certificates without registration, does not meet the requirement.

Landlords

Regulation 36, as amended in 2018, sets the landlord's duties for the gas appliances and flues they provide for tenants.

• Arrange a gas safety check at least every 12 months, carried out by a Gas Safe registered engineer. It is a safety check, not servicing, and the landlord cannot do it by eye.
• The gas safety record, often called a CP12, records the results of the check. Give each existing tenant a copy within 28 days of the check and a new tenant the latest record before they move in. For lets of 28 days or less it may be displayed prominently instead. Keeping it on file is not enough.
• Keep each record until two further checks of that appliance or flue have been made, or for 2 years from the last check if the appliance or flue has been removed from the premises.
• A check done within the 2 months ending with the deadline date counts as done on the deadline date (regulation 36A), so the anniversary does not creep earlier. A check done earlier than that starts a new 12-month period from the day it was done.
• The record is often called a gas safety certificate. It shows the appliances and flues as found on the day of the check, with any safety defect and the action taken, so it cannot guarantee they stay safe until the next check.

On every job

• Follow the manufacturer's installation instructions. They set the clearances, flueing, ventilation and settings for that model, so working to them is part of leaving the appliance safe, not optional good practice.
• Use suitable, in-date test instruments. Tightness and combustion decisions are made from the readings, and an unsuitable or out-of-date instrument can give a believable wrong reading that passes an unsafe installation.
• If you find an immediately dangerous situation, make it safe and follow the unsafe situations procedure, whatever the visit was booked for. Noting it for later attention is not making it safe.
• Before you leave, explain to the responsible person the defects found, the action taken and anything still outstanding, including any appliance left disconnected or turned off, and give them the appropriate record.
• A registered engineer may also have a legal duty to report a dangerous gas fitting to HSE under RIDDOR. The report lets the regulator investigate and help prevent a recurrence; it does not itself cut off the supply or suspend your registration.