Another HSE warning over unregistered gas engineers
July 24th 2009
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is issuing yet another warning regarding unregistered gas engineers, following the prosecution of a gas engineer from Warwick.
Gordon Connolly was fined £5,000 and ordered to pay prosecution costs of £20,632 at Rugby Magistrates Court on 15 July 2009. Mr Connolly was found guilty of two charges under Regulation 3(3) of the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 of carrying out work as a gas engineer while not a member of the approved gas registration body (Gas Safe Register).
The Court heard that in January of 2006 Mr Connolly was served by HSE with an Improvement Notice requiring him to either become registered or stop undertaking gas work. However, he carried on working and was eventually caught when council officials spotted problems with gas safety certificates issued by the defendant after he had completed some gas work.
Mr Neil Craig, HSE Principal Inspector, said after the trial:
"We’d been pursuing Mr Connolly regarding his illegal activities for some time and gave him ample opportunity to become compliant. But he flagrantly chose to ignore our warnings and the law - and this result should serve as a warning to others.
"We’re grateful to Ian Jackson, Housing Officer at Warwick District Council, who in June 2007 spotted anomalies on the Gas Safety Certificates of two properties in the Council’s rent deposit scheme and contacted HSE. The certificates had been completed by Mr Connolly and further checks revealed that he was still not legally registered, so we initiated legal proceedings.
"This is good example of regulators working together to root out rogue gas engineers who, without the competency checks that come through registration, unnecessarily put people’s lives at risk."
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