gas safe

[hammers4spanner]

Is it me or has gas safe started to increase the fines for illegal works?
I could be wrong but i recall not overly long ago that illegal workers were getting fined a few hundred quid for leaving dodgy appliances etc. Glancing through this months gas safe mag and i notice a £7000 fine for gas fire and recall something similar in last months .If this is the case its about time as the amount of illegal workers i come across its ridiculous and an increase in cost of illegal works may start to deter

 

[fuzzy]

illegal work or illegal workers being fined?

 

[hammers4spanner]

illegal workers

 

[fuzzy]

illegal workers

qualified but not registered or not even qualified?

 

[hammers4spanner]

not even qualified , any more questions lol

 

[Mike Jackson]

It's not Gas safe doing the fining. It's the courts. Gas safe carry out the investigation on behalf of the HSE who then decide whether to take it any further.

 

[snowhead]

The severity of all fines are related to the seriousness of the offence.

If a non qualified, non registered person was found to have fitted a fire, which complied fully with the regs, then the fine would be at a particular level.

If the same person fitted a fire and caused an A.R situation, the fine the would be at a higher level.

I.D situation and an even higher fine.

Again the same person but a death, jail would be most likely.

Substitute a qualified person in the above and the fine would be higher where relevant because of, "should have known better"

 

[fuzzy]

doesnt seem right somehow

 

[GasSafePR]

Hi all

Mike Jackson is right - we don't do the actual prosecution or set the fines but we do work closely with HSE on building up evidence in a case.

Each case is always going to be different and a magistrate has to make a judgement based on the evidence presented and then sentence within guidelines (and that includes how fines are calculated).

What I think is happening is that as a whole we are getting better at communicating about prosecutions and also about making sure people understand the costs involved e.g. what it costs to be registered, what it costs the consumer to put an illegal job right etc.

If a magistrate has access to that kind of information it can really help inform a decision.

Hope that helps!

GasSafePR