Food Safety News – July 2011
Gas Safety in Commercial Premises
The Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 places duties on employers and self-employed to ensure that any gas appliance, installation pipework or flue installed at any place of work is maintained in a safe condition so as to prevent risk of injury to any person.
The gas appliances/installation should be inspected by a competent person (on the Gas Safe Register) in accordance with current industry practice. Periods between inspections may vary depending on the equipment and its use and should follow manufacturer’s recommendations, but as a general rule annual inspections will be a reasonable minimum frequency.
All catering and hospitality staff who use gas equipment should be trained in its proper use and common sense daily visual inspection for obvious faults. This will include such things as damaged pipe work and connections, inoperative flame supervision devices (these shut off the gas supply automatically if the flame disappears), missing restraints on equipment needing them for stability, inoperative locks on castors of mobile equipment and smells of escaping gas. All staff should be familiar with necessary procedures in such situations.
Gas Safe Register
Gas Safe Register is the official gas registration body for the United Kingdom, Isle of Man and Guernsey appointed by the relevant Health and Safety Authority for each area. Gas Safe Register replaced CORGI as the gas registration body in Great Britain and Isle of Man on 1 April 2009 and Northern Ireland and Guernsey on 1 April 2010.
When work is undertaken on gas appliances this must be done by a competent person, i.e. someone on the gas safe register. You should check the persons Gas Safe ID card. The card is there to help reduce the number of rogue trader undertaking gas work. You need to check the front and the back of the card.
Check the front of the card for:
- The photo
- The start date and expiry date
- The licence number
- The security hologram
Check the back of the card to make sure:
- Your engineer is qualified to do the gas work you want done e.g. cooker, boiler, gas fire etc. As a commercial undertaking you must also ensure that the engineer is certificated to undertake work on commercial equipment.
- Their qualifications are up to date
You can also check that your engineer is Gas Safe registered by calling Gas Safe Register on 0800 408 5500, texting Gas then the engineer licence number to 85080 or using our check an engineer service online at: www.gassaferegister.co.uk
If you suspect a gas fitter is illegal you can call Gas Safe Register on 0800 408 5500 and report them or use our online report an illegal gas fitter service at: www.gassaferegister.co.uk
According to the NHS, carbon monoxide poisoning is thought to kill around 50 people in the UK every year. Accidental carbon monoxide poisoning is also responsible for some 200 serious injures each year.
What can go wrong if you don’t have your gas appliances maintained or use a rogue trader?
- A heating engineer has been found guilty of failing to comply with health and safety regulations after a guest died at a hotel in Newquay.
Frederick Jackson, 52, from Llanelli, died from carbon monoxide poisoning at the Great Western Hotel in 2008. The trial heard that, several years before Mr Jackson's death, heating engineer Mingo had been responsible for overseeing the fitting of a new boiler and flue at the hotel.
The flue ended just short of a bathroom window, in one of the guest rooms. Mingo told a colleague to screw up the window, but when the hotel was refurbished several years later, the window was changed for one that did open.
Tests on the flue after Mr Jackson's death showed how smoke from the flue could pour in through the window.
- A gas fitter has been jailed for five years for the manslaughter of a man who died after being overcome by carbon monoxide fumes in his home. James Charlton, 31, of Hilltop View, Holmfirth, West Yorkshire, was convicted by a jury at Sheffield Crown Court on Thursday. Probation officer Mark Ellis, 41, died at his home in Dodworth, near Barnsley. It was found that Charlton had left a gap in a flue pipe when fitting a new boiler at the property. Charlton was convicted on Thursday of manslaughter by gross negligence. The incident happened in February 2008.
For technical advice and support, contact our team of EHP's on 01727 866779 or email principals@hygieneauditsystems.com
