Superior Fires pledges its support for Gas Safety Week 2015
Superior Fires has pledged its support for Gas Safety Week (14-20 September 2015), and will be working hard to raise awareness of gas safety issues and to keep the public safe from dangerous gas appliances.
This fifth annual Gas Safety Week will see organisations across the UK working together to raise awareness of the dangers of poorly maintained gas appliances, which cause gas leaks, fires, explosions and carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning. In the last year, at least 68,000 homes in the UK escaped deadly gas incidents such as these, by engineers switching off dangerous appliances1. Nearly one in two of these incidents were caused because a gas appliance had not been regularly serviced and had been left in a poor state2.
With 20 deaths and 1,000 gas-related injuries in the last three years3, it’s vital that people make sure their gas appliances are safety checked every year by a registered engineer. Anyone working on gas appliances while not being Gas Safe registered, is working illegally.
Paul Ravnbo-West, Director of Marketing & Design at Superior Fires said: “This is the third year we are supporting the Gas Safe Register to help raise the awareness of gas safety. As the leading manufacturer of gas fires in the UK we have dedicated our full resources to ensure that our new and existing customers fully understand the importance of using a Gas Safe registered engineer to install and maintain [service] our fires.”
Jonathan Samuel, managing director for Gas Safe Register, said: “We know from our own investigations that one in six gas appliances in the UK are unsafe4, meaning far too many people are victims of preventable gas related incidents. It’s great to have the support of Superior Fires this Gas Safety Week so that we can work together to raise public awareness of gas safety and reduce the number of dangerous gas appliances lurking in the homes of the UK’s 23 million gas consumers.”
Follow these three simple top tips to stay gas safe:
- Get all of your gas appliances safety checked once a year by a registered engineer and sign up to a free reminder service at www.StayGasSafe.co.uk
- Make sure your engineer is legal and safe, by making sure they are registered with Gas Safe Register, the UK’s official gas authority. You can check by calling 0800 408 5500 or visiting www.GasSafeRegister.co.uk
- Check for warning signs your appliances aren’t working correctly, such as a lazy yellow flame instead of a crisp blue one, black marks on or around the appliance and too much condensation in the room.
To find out about dangers in your area visit www.StayGasSafe.co.uk and to find a Gas Safe registered engineer call 0800 408 5500 or visit www.GasSafeRegister.co.uk.
References:
1 Gas Safe Register surveyed 1,658 registered engineers in June 2014. Amongst surveyed gas engineers, 57 per cent said they had switched off a deadly appliance in the last year. There are 120,000 registered engineers, so 57 per cent equates to at least 68,000 homes avoiding a deadly gas incident.
2 45 per cent of engineers surveyed said the reason they had to turn off a gas appliance in the past 12 months was because the appliance had been poorly maintained.
3 20 people died from gas related incidents in the UK in the last three years and 961 non-fatalities were reported (Source: http://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/tables/ridgas.xls statistics 2011-14 (provisional))
4 Gas Safe Register has inspected gas appliances in 121,587 homes across Great Britain for the period 1 April 2010 – 1 May 2014. One in six (17.1%) were identified as unsafe.
For more information about Superior Fires contact:
Paul Ravnbo-West at Superior Fires
Tel: 01202 588632
Email: [email protected]
For media enquiries relating to Gas Safe Register or Gas Safety Week please contact Gas Safe Register press office on 0207 654 2199 or email [email protected].
Gas Safe Register is the government approved registration scheme for gas engineers in UK, Isle of Man and Guernsey. The register of over 122,000 gas engineers aims to protect the UK’s 23 million gas consumers from dangerous gas work. It is a legal requirement for any gas engineering business or self employed gas engineer carrying out domestic and commercial gas work to be registered, and comply with the Gas Safety (Installation & Use) Regulations 1998.
Gas Safe Register assesses the competence of engineers on the register by inspecting a sample of the gas work they carry out to make sure they are safe to work on gas. Gas Safe Register is focused on gas safety and campaigns to raise awareness of gas safety risks, including those associated with using illegal gas workers.
Gas Safe Register deals with all aspects of the downstream gas industry covered by the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998. It covers both piped natural gas and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).
Gas Safe Register replaced the CORGI gas registration scheme in Great Britain and Isle of Man on 1 April 2009 and in Northern Ireland and Guernsey on 1 April 2010.
Follow Gas Safe Register on Twitter @GasSafeRegister and Superior Fires @SuperiorFiresUK