DIY Gas Work

It is interesting to follow the debate around whether or not DIY gas work is legal or illegal in the UK. After reading quite a few different articles and forums I’m still not 100% sure myself.
While it makes sense that no-one except a Gas Safe registered engineer should mess about with gas, the hardened DIYers adamantly disagree.

But millions of British homeowners are risking their lives and the lives of their families every year in the UK by fitting their own gas appliances despite widespread advice to the contrary. It is almost as though they have a head in the sand attitude toward the safety of their families. With 220,000 DIY fans annually turning up with injuries to hospital it is only right that the authorities are trying to curb the enthusiasm of the incompetent.

Research by Satander Insurance reveals that eight million people are undertaking electrical, plumbing and structural work with the help or advice of a qualified tradesman and yet we also know that in 2005/6 16 people died of carbon monoxide poisoning due to poorly fitted and maintained appliances flues and chimneys.

On the DIY forums it is suggested that fitting, say, an gas oven is extremely simple and that anyone could do it. One must surely consider however, there are many more standards and checks than the average layman can really know about and one wonders whether it is the ego of these DIY guys (nearly always men) that overrides the concern for the health and safety of their families and neighbours.

Another argument against using a gas safe registered engineer to fit appliances is to moan and whinge about the ‘nanny state’. While it does sometimes feel that we, in the UK, are bogged down in bureaucracy, it doesn’t bear thinking about the danger we live with constantly when people blatantly ignore guidelines put their to save us from big headed idiots with hammers.

If you look at the outcome for landlord Peter Neil Ingram from Lowsonford who in 1998 was fined £2000 with £1,777 costs for his outstanding attempts at DIY on his wife’s rental property. In 1996 (note it took 2 years to get him into court) a gas engineer was called out after the tenant’s small child was showing signs of gas poisoning and a CO alarm had gone off. Mr Ingram in his wisdom had removed part of the flue on the central heating boiler and had continued the work even when challenged by a neighbour, who could clearly see that the work wasn’t up to scratch. How much more would he have been fined had the child in question had died? It is in situations like this that tenants need to be particularly vigilant. The HSC prosecuting inspector Neil Craig said: ‘ this case should serve as a reminder to home owners and tenants that any work undertaken on a gas fired appliance should only be carried out by a suitable and qualified specialist in that field. This instance should also be a warning to landlords that the must provide tenants with a current Gas Safety Certificate and work should only conducted by persons who are qualified, competent and Corgi registered’.

Another thing to consider is that performing DIY in the home can reduce the value of the property and make it difficult to sell with the certificates of compliance in place. While DIY in and of itself can be incredibly satisfying it is wise to take some course on whatever skill you need to learn before attempting even the smallest of jobs or you could end up paying a lot more in the long run to fix mistakes. As well as that the amount of injuries sustained through DIY is alarming and so some thought to health and safety is a wise thing.