New gas installer scheme

[Owain]

7th March 2007, DWP Minister, Lord McKenzie, announced a new scheme to improve domestic gas safety. A press notice was released announcing the decision. The proposals agreed by Government are that: - A new specification for the gas installer registration scheme would be drawn up and bids invited for a five-year agreement to run it; - A single provider will be appointed to run this new scheme. There would be a new framework agreement between HSE and the provider setting out performance and requirement criteria to provide for stronger oversight by HSE; - The role of the new registration scheme provider would be extended to include arrangements for co-ordinating stronger industry action to raise public awareness of gas safety; - The new body may also be given other functions such as limited enforcement powers to help tackle the problem of illegal, unregistered installers; and - Gas installers would be encouraged to apply for registration through incentives such as a simplified registration process.

The proposals have emerged from extensive stakeholder consultation over the past year as part of the HSE Review of Domestic Gas Safety. The Commission paper [PDF 169kb] sets out the advice of the HSE.

Owain

[Andy Hall]

Which roughly translates to there having been whinges from stakeholders that CORGI is a monopoly (which it is).

There was talk before about introducing additional accreditation organisations in the last review, but fell by the wayside.

Notice in the report, that work has been done by a government department and then duplicated by hiring consultants.

The result is to be an invitation for tender by interested parties wanting to take on the role of "registration scheme provider" - a pseudo-franchise.

Needless to say, CORGI will win this, possibly after having been leaned on to alter their modus operandi to make it look as though some changes are being made.

[Andrew Gabriel]

Did anyone who responded to the consultation last year hear anything back as they were supposed to? I didn't hear anything back.

[Andy Hall]

Nope.

However, you and I are irrelevant to something that is just being done as a window dressing exercise and for which the outcome has almost certainly already been decided.

What amused me were the comments in the document that the self certification schemes in the Building Regulations were perceived as light weight and local authorities being already overloaded in terms of enforcement.

[Ed Sirett]

I think you have a pretty accurate summary. CORGI are going to be the new monopoly guild for gas fitting replacing CORGI. They will try to make joining a bit easier but it not that difficult just very expensive so the major hurdle is not removed. They will try to enforce the law and standards but that would take even more money which can only come from... The fees from guild members!

As for the the self-certification scheme we already suspect this is nothing about workmanship or safety and everything about leaving an activity audit trail.

[Andy Hall]

It's also interesting to read most of the justification for having a heavier weight acreditation arrangement than those in the Building Regulations is related to the perceived risk of CO poisoning - one figure pulled out of the air being 11m homes. There's little or no mention of shoddy pipework and a passing nod to DIY.

I find this a bit surprising. Perhaps I've missed something, but AIUI, the main reasons for CO poisoning are

- inadequate ventilation

- blocked flue

- appliance in need of service or past sell-by date

It could be that during installation, a fitter doesn't organise proper ventilation, and I can believe that an untrained person could fall into that trap - however, as a proportion, how much conventional flue equipment is installed nowadays? I have to admit that our Aga is a CF version, but that is mainly for aesthetic reasons and because the wall behind is not convenient for a RS flue.

I would have thought that the far larger risk for ventilation is that the user decides that the room is draughty and blocks the vent.

Likewise, I'd think that lack of servicing/checking because the user forgets or chooses not to for whatever reason, would be a larger risk than whether or not the person coming along to do the work is registered.

Overall, I think for the average man in the street, CORGI is on balance a good thing - not the organisation in particular, but the concept of something with at least some acreditation and training.

However, I can't help thinking that if there really is a major problem with CO poisoning, that there should be something equivalent to an MOT for gas appliances. Of course, that would be about as popular as a pork pie at a Bar Mitzvah in terms of civil liberties and wouldn't fly politically.

It does seem that there is a disconnect in terms of figuring out the problems that this is meant to solve and measuring that it actually does that.

[Owain]

Already required in rented properties though, and if it saves just one child...

I suspect non room-sealed appliances will be outlawed completely fairly soon, the exemptions for non-condensing boilers will be whittled away in time.

Owain

[Tony Bryer]

If you were interested in saving children it would make more sense to require every house (owned or rented) where children live to have a gas safety certificate. But that, of course, would get the Mail and Express foaming at the mouth (again) whilst leaning on wicked landlords upsets no one.

[Andy Hall]

Not even wicked landlords?

[Ed Sirett]

Ironically, the place where I have a made a significant intervention (user was suffering mild CO poisoning - appliance seriously lethal) it was not in rented accommodation.

Likewise where there were serious gas leaks, (rusted through iron pipe) then again it was not in rental property.

[Andy Hall]

Interesting, but I suppose not surprising.

Is there a part of the appropriate training that covers how to recognise CO poisoning or did you look into that anyway?

[Stuart Noble]

CORGIs can now diagnose and treat patients with a range of respiratory conditions.

[Owain]

I thought it was circulatory arrest...

Anyway, there are dogs that can sniff cancer. I don't think theyr'e corgis, though.

Owain

[John Stumbles]

Theres a bit of coverage of effects of various concentrations of CO (person is blue & stiff: quite a lot :-))

[Andy Hall]

I thought it was red and stiff with CO though....

[Owain]

I thought that was viagra...

Owain

[Andrew Gabriel]

Blue and stiff is with the invoice...

[Ed Sirett]

I went to service the boiler because the owners asked me too. They had not made the connection between the recent onset of headaches, dizziness and nausea which they had been getting recently and the boiler.

The boiler was an open flued unit in a cupboard in a large kitchen diner. There was no ventilation from outside. Due to the way the pipe work had been laid out it was very awkward to get the flue hood on over the top of the heat exchanger. This meant the glass rope seal had blocked one part of the heat exchanger which in turn had led to the build up of soot and very large amounts of CO spillage into the room.

There were a stack of additional minor technical irregularities but the really significant stuff was as I describe above.

The likelihood was that the previous owner was a professional occupant-refurbisher and did not use employ qualified help to install the boiler.

The "MOT" for rental properties has probably already flushed out most of the really poor installations.

The figure of 11m homes at risk of CO poisoning from gas appliances must be based on an estimate of the number of homes with any sort of flueless or open flued appliance. IMHO it is a unconvincing attempted use of stats.

[Ed Sirett]

With CO poisoning the person looks anything but blue, cherry red and stiff so I'm told.

[John Stumbles]

It wasn't part of the Practical in the ACS :-)