Landlord prosecuted for poorly maintained gas appliance

Date:

27 July 2009

Release No:

HSE/WM/296/2009

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is warning of the need to ensure that gas boilers are serviced and checked regularly by authorised engineers following the prosecution today (27 July) of a Worcester landlord.

Tenants at a house in Wylds Lane, Worcester, were taken to hospital on 16 March 2008 suffering from suspected exposure to carbon monoxide after complaining about the smell of fumes coming from the gas boiler.

Landlord of the property, Shazad Ishaq, who also lives in Wylds Lane but at a different address, pleaded guilty to contravening Regulations 36(2)(a) and 36(6)(b) of the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998. He was fined a total of £2,500 and ordered to pay £1,500 costs by Worcester Magistrates.

The court heard that before the family was evacuated, a National Grid engineer identified a flue gas spillage and the gas supply to the boiler and cooker hob was disconnected. The HSE identified inadequate air supply to the boiler which was housed in a kitchen cupboard, inadequate cleaning and maintenance of the boiler, particularly the filters, visual signs of soot and flue gas spillage on the inside of the cupboard and boiler casing and that the flue was 'not to current standards'.

HSE Inspector Janice Willets said:

"The gas inspector's investigation concluded that no maintenance or cleaning work appeared to have been carried out on the boiler for a considerable period prior to the incident. Further investigations also showed a landlord's gas safety certificate had not been made available to the tenant for several months.

"There is a duty on landlords to maintain gas appliances in safe condition for use by their tenants and ensure their certificates are up to date. Mr Ishaq failed to do either of these things."

Notes to editors

1. Regulation 36(2)(a) of the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998, states: "Every landlord shall ensure that there is maintained in a safe condition... any relevant gas fitting."
2. Regulation 36(6)(b) of the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998, states: "Every landlord shall ensure that... a copy of the last record made in respect of each appliance or flue is given to any new tenant of premises to which the record relates before that tenant occupies those premises save that, in respect of a tenant whose right to occupy those premises is for a period not exceeding 28 days, a copy of the record may instead be prominently displayed within those premises."
3. HSE is responsible for regulating domestic gas safety in Great Britain and does this largely through the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998.
4. Gas engineers undertaking gas work must be registered with a body approved by HSE. The body currently approved is the Gas Safe Register. For further information about the gas registration scheme, go to www.gassaferegister.co.uk.
5. For further information on gas safety, contact the HSE Gas Safety Advice Line 0800 300 363 or visit: http://www.hse.gov.uk/gas/domestic

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Issued on behalf of the Health and Safety Executive by COI News and PR West Midlands.