GAS Safety Engineer Responsibilities

[jase158]

Thought I would start a new post

Where does your responsibility as a gas engineer begin and end.

For instance, you go to deal with a cooker and you see that the boiler flue is broke.

What is stopping you from saying, I never saw the boiler.

You issue a certificate for the cooker to say it is safe, but this does not include boiler or does it?

Basically what I am asking is if you are GSR, does this mean that you have to ensure that all gas appliances are safe before you leave the premises, do you charge the customer for this or is it simply part of the service?

Somebody said on another forum if you were the last GSR engineer to be at the property before something happened then you are likely to be investigated.

Where is the line, If you are going to fix somebodys guttering, should you be checking their gas appliances?

I understand the moral part of it and if somebody had died because you had not mentioned it, then the guilt would be enough to send you mad, let alone the legal battle that would be faced, however, for some smart git that doesnt care, what is stopping them from lieing through their teeth.

Further more, Should you go and do a GSC on a house and reccomend the pump being changed in the next few months, i.e. what is stopping them from getting their mate to do it and you are officially the last GSR engineer to have touched the boiler.

 

[Mrs Tara Plumbi]

Back in the days of corgi i remember someone I knew fitted a back boiler.
It was serviced by BG for a few years and then BG came and said there was a problem.
You would think it would be down to the last BG engineer who probably caused this problem (can't remember but was not life threatening I think).
Corgi decided it was the installers fault, even though he had not been there for years and the fire was NOT like that when he left it.

o the injustice!
Anyway.
I think if you a gsr and you go to a property you do not automatically assume responsibility for all problems, like you say, you might not see that problem.
BUt if the job you were doing would mean that you should have seen the problem then I would think you MIGHT have some responsibility.

And as a GSR you have the authority to do certain things if you see problems. - eg report them.
That is my understanding - but I am not a heating engineer.

 

[AWheating]

its good to find faults, you can make more money fixing them.

 

[jase158]

Sounds like a right nightmare being GSR, a lot of stress and responsibility.

 

[CES]

I remember it used to be a common train of thought that "last man frees all".. obviously this is not always the case.
I think nowadays to keep yourself right, when working on a gas system/appliance it is imperative to check over (visually) any other gas appliances. If you see anything dodgy then follow the Unsafe Situations procedure.. That would be my way of thinking.

 

[GasmanxxxR1]

IF you turn the gas off at the meter to work on one appliance then you have to do a purge and relight of the ohter appliances and this includes a visual inspection. If you see anything dodgy follow NTCS AR or ID and inform the customer, cover your back

 

[Ivor Bates]

A couple of things spring to mind on this subject, years ago I knew a chap who worked mainly for a contractor servicing local authority properties. He got himself a private job to service the fire in the living room of some old dear. 3 months later she died from carbon monoxide from a gas fire in her bedroom, he was jailed for not checking it, whether he asked her if she had any other gas appliances is debatable, but the fire was not noted in his service record so he went down.
20 odd years ago, I worked for a company called NW Maintenance from Liverpool but had an office in Ashford in Kent. They had the gas contract for Camden council, On College place estate, every single gas was spilling, so all of us engineers disconected and capped them off. This didn't go down to well with head office as they thought they would lose the contract with the council. So unbeknown to the engineers, the supervisors and management travelled up on the weekend and believe it or not, reconnected the fire. We several days later would return and disconnect them again. Eventually someone died, in fact the whole family died, it became apparent that the flats were originally flat roofs, the council decided to put pitch roofs on and extend the flues. Unfortunately builders working in the roof spaces had no idea of the importance of the flues so knocked them down. So what ended happening was somone would turn their fire on and the fumes would remain in the loft or go back down a neighbours flue. All of us engineers were covered as we had done the right thing by issueing warning notices and capping of the fires. Both the company and the council were prosecuted. The company closed down, because of what happened here some local authorities will now not have any gas fires within there properties. Kensington & Chelsea is an example of that...

 

[tamz]

It depends on in what capacity you are being employed in.
If you are in the house working on a gas appliance where you are shutting the supply down you have to do a visual inspection and relight of all other appliances. This does not mean a full check on each appliance. Meerly you have relit it, cheched the ventilation and flueing are up to scratch and flame picture etc.
If you are in there to change a pump there is no responsibility to check anything.
However.
As a guardian of the gas using community you may feel inclined to have a look at things. Thats up to you.
Personally i act in the capacity i am being paid for, unless it slaps me on the face as id, but i don't go looking either.
I'm being paid to change your pump not give your whole house a safety check while i'm at it.
Depends what you can live with.
Use you COMMON SENSE :wink:

 

[Reg Man]

IF you turn the gas off at the meter to work on one appliance then you have to do a purge and relight of the ohter appliances and this includes a visual inspection. If you see anything dodgy follow NTCS AR or ID and inform the customer, cover your back

Quite agree with this statement. Report any faults you see in writing. Anything picked up at a latter date may not have been present during your visit. If you have been proffesional enough to give a written report at the time you were working on the installation, you are unlikely to have a finger pointed at you.

 

[villa_tom]

When ever I go to a property to do a gas job, say for example service a combi. I always note what other appliances are in the property on my safety sheet and just write "visually inpspected" on the appliance details to cover my back.

You have to cover your backside big time in this job and I always cover myself, no matter what the job, even if its just to repressurise a boiler, I will write down everything on my sheet that I give to the customer. It may sound excessive, but 5 minutes extra work is better than being someones "special friend" in prision.

 

[armyash]

Interesting post. Depending on your conscience and if you are prepared to try and lie if someone croaks that's up to you. Definitely something to think about for when i am working as GSR in the future. I'll definitely be doing it all by the book and covering my back. Just not worth the hassle in life if something did go wrong. I can see how things could get overlooked if it's been a long day and you're knackered but i think an extra 5 minutes will always be worth it.