Gas Safe has estimated that around 1.1 million homes are affected every year by illegal gas fitters carrying out illegal and unsafe work in people’s homes. This is putting people at risk of carbon monoxide poisoning, gas leaks, explosions and fires.
There are still too many unqualified gas engineers working within the gas industry and they are putting people’s lives at risk by carrying out dangerous gas work.
Gas Safe are the only official gas registration scheme in the UK and their research has shown some awful figures of the amount of illegal gas work that has been carried out in the UK over the past year.
The study carried out by Gas Safe has shown that illegal gas fitters around the UK have carried out jobs on:
- 186,000 Gas Cookers
- 147,000 Boilers
- 75,000 Gas Fires
- 32,000 Gas Meters
- 645,000 Gas Pipework
In the past few years Gas Safe has investigated near to 5000 illegal gas jobs. 3 in 5 of these jobs had left appliances in an unsafe condition and 1 in 5 were so dangerous that they had to be disconnected straight away.
So many people are unaware of the dangers that illegal gas work can bring and that if done incorrectly it can have damaging affects to the health of people.
Here is one of our gas students making sure he gets the right qualifications and training so that he doesn't carry out illegal gas work.
Home owners in the UK have been reported to be far too trusting of ‘gas fitters’ according to Gas Safe and they will be happy to accept people to do their gas work based on recommendations from friends and family. Gas Safe has reported that 16% of people don’t check their gas fitters ID card to check if they are Gas Safe registered.
Also, for the gas fitters that believe they are qualified but actually they aren’t, they need to make sure they are receiving the right training at the right training centre to ensure they are becoming gas safe.
At Able Skills we offer gas training the right way and there are no short cuts. This will make sure you become a Gas Safe Engineer and to make sure you can carry out gas work safely and confidently in people’s homes.
For more information please visit the Gas Safe website at: www.gassaferegister.co.uk
For Gas training courses please contact Able Skills on 01322 280202.