Gas Boiler Safety

Annual safety checks are essential

Annual safety checks are essential to help keep your gas boiler and other gas appliances operating safely and efficiently. This is according to Gas Safe and CORGI, the organisations that are required by law to maintain registers of qualified gas appliance installers and engineers. Gas Safe's register covers England, Wales and Scotland, whilst CORGI's covers Northern Ireland and the Channel Islands.

Gas boiler safety checks by qualified professionals can identify issues relating to the installation, operation and ventilation of your gas boiler, to help ensure that it is working properly and avoid the accidental production and emission of dangerous carbon monoxide gas.

It's absolutely vital that any gas boiler safety inspection, servicing or other care or maintenance work is carried out by a suitably qualified and registered gas engineer, who will be an expert in working with gas appliances, having undergone specialist training. Anyone else carrying out gas boiler servicing or working on any other gas appliance in your home would be breaking the law - it's that simple and that important.

Do check that the engineer is qualified for the relevant job, as gas installers can be trained in one or specialisms, including central heating. Registered members' cards share many similarities, but there are some important differences, especially on the back.

A member's ID card will display which scheme they belong to, which types of work they are trained to do (on the back), their photo, a Gas Safe or CORGI registration number for their business, an individual ID number, an expiry date and the Gas Safe or CORGI logo. (continues below…)

Gas boiler safety...

You can visit Gas Safe Register's (or CORGI's) website or call 0800 408 5500 (or 0800 915 0485) to check a person's registration. A properly registered tradesperson shouldn't be offended if you choose to check their Gas Safe Register or CORGI membership before you allow them to inspect or service your gas boiler, as the system works as much to their benefit as it does to yours.

The only people who stand to lose out from the registration schemes - which are operated under instruction from the Government's Health & Safety Executive - are "cowboys" whose potentially unsafe work could otherwise put your life and your family's lives in danger.

Each of our featured suppliers for gas boiler safety inspections, servicing, maintenance plans and insurance is fully committed to using the services of suitably qualified Gas Safe or CORGI engineers, whose credentials can be checked in the ways described above.

More gas boiler and central heating safety information:

» Gas safety introduction

» Gas boiler safety

» Carbon monoxide - the silent killer

» About carbon monoxide detectors and alarms

» Recognising carbon monoxide poisoning

» Visual checks you can make at home