Illegal gas work left elderly woman in danger

Date:

14 December 2012

Release No:

Y&H/218/12

A South Yorkshire man has been fined for carrying out illegal gas work at a house in Sheffield, leaving an elderly woman at risk from deadly carbon monoxide poisoning.

Tom Scholfield, 28, of Rotherham, left a gas fire 'immediately dangerous' after installing it at the woman's house in Dore on 22 December 2010. A central heating system he installed two months earlier was also found to be defective.

The poor standard of work was spotted by a registered gas safety engineer who visited the property in February 2011. At the same time, he checked Mr Scholfield's credentials and found he was not registered with Gas Safe and should not have undertaken any gas installation work.

Sheffield Magistrates' Court was told today (14 Dec) that a Gas Safe expert later visited the woman's home to examine all the gas appliances and found a series of defects. The most serious involved the gas fire where there was no seal to prevent carbon monoxide from re-entering the woman's house. It was classed as an immediate danger and a warning notice was issued.

The incident was reported by Gas Safe to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), which investigated. HSE found that Mr Scholfield, who traded as Scholfield Plumbing and Heating, had Gas Safe registration, but it had expired in March 2010 - some nine months prior to the fire installation.

HSE today prosecuted Tom Scholfield, of Warren Hill, Kimberworth Park, Rotherham, for two breaches of the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998. He was fined a total of £3,300 and ordered to pay £1,000 in costs after admitting both charges.

After the hearing, HSE inspector Mark Welsh said:

"Illegal gas work is unfortunately a regular occurrence and the result can be carbon monoxide poisonings and explosions. Both can lead to the deaths of innocent people who put their trust in someone they believed was fully qualified and accredited as competent.

"Tom Scholfield should never have carried out this work. He left the gas fire in a dangerous state and put an elderly woman at risk. It was lucky the poor workmanship was identified before anything serious happened.

"Gas work should only be undertaken by someone qualified and competent to do so and that means registered Gas Safe engineers, who all carry ID cards."

On average, 20 people die each year from carbon monoxide poisoning caused by poorly installed, maintained or ventilated gas appliances and flues. Many more become seriously ill and, in some cases, prolonged exposure can cause paralysis and brain damage.

For information and advice about safe working with gas visit www.hse.gov.uk/gas or visit www.gassaferegister.co.uk

Notes to editors

1. The Health and Safety Executive is Britain's national regulator for workplace health and safety. It aims to reduce work-related death, injury and ill health. It does so through research, information and advice; promoting training; new or revised regulations and codes of practice; and working with local authority partners by inspection, investigation and enforcement. www.hse.gov.uk
2. Regulation 3(3) of the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 states: no employer shall allow any of his employees to carry out any work in relation to a gas fitting or service pipework and no self-employed person shall carry out any such work, unless the employer or self-employed person, as the case may be, is a member of a class of persons approved for the time being by the Health and Safety Executive
3. Regulation 27(1) of the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 states: No person shall install a gas appliance to any flue unless the flue is suitable and in a proper condition for the safe operation of the appliance.

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Issued on behalf of the Health and Safety Executive by the Regional News Network