Purpose
This fact sheet outlines our management framework for gas appliance safety, serving as a policy document for engineers, coordinators, and clients. It provides a summary of our approach to assessing and allocating the necessary skills for maintaining gas appliances, as detailed in our maintenance plans, and describes the service report format and follow-up actions required to ensure compliance.
Legal Context
We are often asked if these guidelines are legally required. The following is an extract from the Approved Code of Practice (ACOP):
“The Approved Code of Practice and guidance provides practical advice on the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations (GSIUR). Issued by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), the guidance is not compulsory unless specifically stated. You are free to take other actions, but by following the guidance, you will normally be doing enough to comply with the law.”
Focus Areas
Our principal activities focus on the maintenance of gas appliances, outlined in Parts E and F of the ACOP, starting from page 53. Due to the extensive nature of the work required, detailed procedures are not included in this fact sheet. However, we emphasize that competence and expertise are assessed by approved training providers, and our processes are aligned with compliance to Regulation 3.
Regulation 3: Qualification and Supervision
Our partners are carefully vetted to ensure they hold the appropriate qualifications for the specific gas appliances they service, and that these qualifications are current. Our maintenance plans, detailed on Tee-Cards, specify the qualifications required for each asset. Since all our plans are based on asset registers, this management process is straightforward for our coordinators to implement and monitor. The engineer's Gas Safe registration (or other approved membership) and the serial number of any combustion analyzer used are recorded on the service record for the asset. This information is available to the end-user as proof of competence.
Minimum Maintenance Requirements
Effective maintenance of gas appliances involves an ongoing program of periodic inspections and any necessary remedial work. In the absence of specific manufacturers’ instructions, maintenance should at a minimum include:
- Examination of the physical condition and safe functioning of appliance installation pipework from the local isolation valve.
- Verification of ventilation and any flue.
- Conducting performance tests.
- Undertaking necessary remedial actions.
Compliance Documentation and Reporting
Appendix 3 of the ACOP summarizes the key requirements for maintenance or safety checks on gas appliances and flues. Upon completion of work, our partners complete an Industrial or Commercial Gas Safety Record, which complies with the requirements of Appendix 3. After review by the coordinator, this document is filed in the asset service history on the Log-book Portal as a permanent record. This document also records the asset status. If the engineer identifies a safety issue, the asset is flagged as "Action Required." All assets needing action can be managed from the asset status dashboard at any time.
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