Competency and compliance in gas work
A new Technical Bulletin has been developed by the TB 014 (B) committee: TB 014 (B), titled “Working Within Scope of Work Categories.”
The Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 (GSIUR) require persons undertaking gas work to be competent to carry out the work. The regulations place a duty on the person undertaking the work, their employer, and any other business in control of the work to ensure competence. All businesses working within the scope of the GSIUR must be registered with the Gas Safe Register (GSR).
GSR’s rules of registration Section 2 state the following:
“Anyone carrying out gas work must:
a) Be listed against the Registered Business as an engineer and hold the appropriate registration work categories for the work being carried out. They must have a recognised certificate of gas safety competence for registration in each work category;
b) Ensure all gas work done meets the requirements of the relevant Health & Safety enforcement agency, in accordance with the current gas safety legislation that is in force in the relevant Health & Safety agency’s jurisdiction (i.e., Great Britain, Isle of Man, Northern Ireland, Guernsey, and Jersey);
c) Do so competently.”
Competency to work on gas appliances is achieved by an engineer holding specific ACS (Accredited Certification Scheme) qualifications for the types of gas appliances they work on.
Below is a flow chart for an engineer to follow to confirm whether or not they hold the correct work categories to carry out gas work:
Frequently Asked Questions
Q1: If there are multiple domestic boilers installed in a single room, that individually are less than 70 kW but have an aggregate heat input exceeding this, can you carry out work on this installation with only domestic qualifications?
A: A domestically qualified engineer holding CENWAT can work on an installation of a maximum of two individually flued room sealed domestic boilers with individual ratings of 70 kW or less installed in a domestic premises.
Q2: Can a domestic engineer carry out work on a domestic boiler in non-domestic premises?
A: A domestic engineer holding CENWAT can work on a domestic boiler regardless of the building type, as long as the part of the gas installation being worked on is within scope of the current IGEM/UP/1B (i.e., a U16 meter or smaller, 35mm pipework or less, and an installation volume of less than 0.035m3), and no other non-domestic appliances are encountered within the same room.
Q3: Can a non-domestic engineer work on a domestic boiler in a non-domestic environment?
A: To work on a domestic boiler, a non-domestic engineer would need to hold the relevant changeover category and CENWAT.
Q4: Can a domestic engineer holding CKR1 work on a domestic cooker in a catering premises?
A: Where a domestic cooker is installed in a non-domestic premises alongside other catering appliances, this would fall under the scope of the current BS 6173 Installation and maintenance of gas-fired catering appliances for use in all types of catering establishments (2nd and 3rd family gases) – Specification. The engineer would need to hold a relevant commercial catering work category.
Q5: Can a domestic engineer holding the cookers work category (CKR1) install/service/maintain domestic cookers in a school food technology (home economics) room with multiple domestic cookers installed?
A: No. The document covering educational establishments (IGEM/UP/11) gives guidance that when multiple domestic gas cookers are installed in a food technology (home economics) room then the installation should comply with the non-domestic catering Standard (BS 6173) and interlocked as per current IGEM/UP/19 Design and application of interlock devices and associated systems used with gas appliance installations in commercial catering appliances. The engineer would need to hold a relevant commercial catering work category.
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