Checking a Gas Engineer
A two-minute check against the official register and a look at the engineer's ID card confirms who they are and what gas work they are qualified to do.
Photo: Lisafern via Wikimedia Commons, CC0
Anyone working on a gas appliance, pipework or flue in a home must be on the Gas Safe Register, and the check takes only a couple of minutes: look the engineer up on the official register before work starts, then check their ID card against that entry when they arrive.
Checking the engineer and the ID card
Use the "Find an Engineer" search on the Gas Safe Register website with a postcode to see engineers working in the area, along with a photograph and their qualifications, or call the free helpline on 0800 408 5500. To check a business, text "Gas" followed by the business's registration number to 85080; to check an individual, text "Gas" followed by the seven-digit licence number on their card to 85080 — a reply confirms whether that number is currently registered.
Before any work begins, ask to see the engineer's Gas Safe ID card. The photograph should match the person in front of you, and the licence number and the start and expiry dates on the front should match what the register shows — the card is renewed every 12 months, so an expired date is a reason to stop. The back of the card lists the categories of gas work that engineer is qualified to do.
Why the category matters
Being on the register is not, by itself, proof that an engineer can work on a particular appliance. The categories on the back of the card separate domestic work, such as boilers, cookers, fires and pipework, from commercial work, and each category carries its own qualification and expiry date. Before work starts, check that the category needed for the job appears on the card and has not expired; a qualification for one type of appliance does not automatically cover another. The register does not cover oil-fired appliances, which fall under OFTEC, or solid fuel appliances, which are covered separately.
Landlord duties and reporting concerns
Under the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998, anyone carrying out gas work must be registered with the body approved for that purpose. Landlords have a further duty on top of that: a registered engineer must check every gas appliance and flue supplied to a tenant within 12 months of installation and every 12 months after that, the safety record must be kept for at least two years, and a copy must be given to the tenant before they move in, or within 28 days of the check for an existing tenant.
Anyone who suspects gas work has been carried out by someone who is not registered, or outside their qualified category, can report it to Gas Safe Register online or on 0800 408 5500; reports can be made anonymously. Gas Safe Register investigates and passes serious cases to the Health and Safety Executive, which can issue a warning, order the work to stop, or prosecute.
