Gas Safe Register - further details

Gas Safe Register deals with all aspects of the downstream gas industry covering the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998. It covers both piped natural gas and liquefied petroleum gas.

It is the law that anyone carrying out gas work that is within the scope of the Regulations is on the Gas Safe Register. The Gas Safe Register maintains a register of details of businesses and operatives who are competent to undertake a variety of gas work.

Registered gas engineers are issued with an Identity Card which gas consumers are encouraged to ask to see when engineers attend their property to undertake work.

New businesses and engineers with no previous history or those returning to the industry with a history of complaints or a record of unsafe gas work will undergo a time limited Probationary Period. During that period they will be required to report gas work they are doing so that the Gas Safe Register can inspect one or more pieces of work.

The Gas Safe Register have a team of inspectors who monitor that gas work is being undertaken competently and safely. They deal with reactive complaints, undertake planned inspections and handle ad hoc requests. The Gas Safe Register inspectors work closely with the regulators such as HSE.

Full details on how to register can be found on the Gas Safe Register website (www.gassaferegister.co.uk) 

Gas engineers and consumers can contact the Gas Safe Register in any of these ways:

• Phone - Consumers: 0800 408 5500; Engineers: 0800 408 5577
• Post - Gas Safe Register, PO Box 6804, Basingstoke. RG24 4NB
• Web - www.gassaferegister.co,uk
• Email - enquiry@gassaferegister.co.uk

If you wish to complain about the safety of a gas installation, the work of an engineer or about the service provided by the Gas Safe Register you should contact the Consumer Complaints section of the Gas Safe Register. Full details can be found on the Gas Safe Register website (www.gassaferegister.co.uk) 

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

The performance of the Gas Safe Register is measured against a series of Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s). All KPI’s are measured annually against baselines set in early 2009 and there are financial and contractual implications if the registration scheme provider fails to meet the targets set. 

The initial KPI’s are measured over years 1 – 5 of the agreement. In Year 4 HSE will undertake a thorough review of the Providers performance and the KPI’s to ensure that the Agreement continues to improve gas safety and provide value for money for Registered Businesses and Operatives in Year 5 to Year 10. 

The KPI’s can be broken down into three main areas;

Gas Consumers

• Gas Consumer Awareness of Gas Safety Risks and the Register – The initial target for the end of year 1 has been set at a 15% increase above the baseline, rising by 10% per year until year 5
• Unprompted recognition of brand by consumers – The initial target for October 2009 is 40% recognition, rising to 75% by October 2011.
• Gas Consumer satisfaction with the Registration Scheme. The initial target for the end of year 1 has been set at 75% rising to 90% by year 5.
• The provider's risk model will be monitored through two KPIs.
  • Firstly by testing that the provider is achieving increased effectiveness in targeting unsafe gas work. This will be done through risk based inspection by measuring the annual increase in the proportion of unsafe gas work found as compared with unsafe gas work found in random inspection.  The initial target for the end of year 1 has been set at a 10% increase above the baseline, then rising by 7.5% in year 2 and then 5% per year up to year 5.
  • Secondly, by reducing the amount of unsafe gas work. This will measure the reduction in a) the proportion of justified consumer complaints where safety defects are confirmed in inspection, and b) a reduction in the proportion of unsafe gas work found through random inspection sampling.  The target is for a 5% reduction in gas work identified through a) and b) per year from year 2 to 5.

Gas Engineers

• Gas Engineer satisfaction with the registration scheme.  The initial target for the end of year 1 has been set at a 20% increase above the baseline, rising to 90% satisfaction by year 5

Stakeholders

• Continuous improvement of relations with key stakeholder groups - The initial target for the end of year 1 of has been set at a 20% increase above the baseline, rising by 15%, 10%, 5% and 5% per year respectively up to year 5.

Gas Safe Register Brand

The Gas Safe Register brand is held in trust for gas engineers by HSE and made available to any scheme provider in the future. The objectives for the brand include championing gas safety as a hallmark for the protection of gas consumers from unsafe gas work and promoting the need for gas consumers to use only registered businesses and operatives.

Management of the Service Concession Agreement

There is an HSE Contract Manager who oversees the day to day relations and management of the concession agreement and a Concordat between HSE and Gas Safe Register which deals with the ways of working between the Register and the various parts of HSE.

The Operational Governance Board oversees the management of the agreement, while the strategic management of the operation of the scheme is overseen by the Joint Steering Board in which senior HSE and Capita managers are involved. This body has the final say in scrutinizing annual performance of the scheme.