By: Eugene Sabri
Submitted: 2009-05-24 23:54:44 | Word Count: 588
Until very recently, all gas plumbers and engineers in the UK had to be registered with the CORGI organisation. The government obviously felt that this arrangement was unsatisfactory, and abolished the whole set up in order to make way for a new, digital age organisation, entitled the Gas Safe Register. The role of this new body is to provide an easily accessible register of all the qualified and registered gas plumbers and engineers in the country, so that anyone who is not qualified or able to carry out work on potentially lethal gas appliances can be easily identified by the consumer.
Who runs Gas Safe Register? - The company in charge of the new Gas Safe Register is Capita Gas Registration and Ancillary Services Ltd. They have been chosen by the British government's Health and Safety Executive to run the Gas Safe Register in Britain and the Isle of Man.
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The new Gas Safe Register officially replaced CORGI as the gas registration body in the UK on 1st April 2009. The purpose of the new Gas Safe Register is to ensure the safety of all UK citizens who require gas works to be carried out in their domestic or commercial property.
What about CORGI and all of its CORGI registered engineers? - From 31st March 2009 CORGI ended its run as the UK's official gas safety body. Engineers and plumbers that were registered with CORGI must now register with Gas Safe instead, and any gas work you have done in your home or workplace must be carried out by them, and not a CORGI registered engineer or plumber.
Why do I need to use a Gas Safe registered engineer? - Gas safety is highly important, as the risks posed by improperly fitted or repaired gas appliance can lead to gas leaks, carbon monoxide poisoning and even gas explosions. Anyone fixing or installing gas appliances such as boilers, hobs, ovens or fires therefore has to be fully qualified, and the standard of their work vetted appropriately. And this is just what the Gas Safety Register does.
What is a Gas Safe registered engineer? - All Gas Safe registered engineers have been checked to ensure that they are competent and qualified to work safely and legally with gas. Gas Safe ID cards are only given to legally registered engineers as proof of their registration, and the card also lets you know how qualified they are to carry out various types of work around your home.
How do I find a properly registered engineer? - You can look through the Gas Safe Register's database of currently registered engineers and plumbers online on the Gas Safe website, or you can give them a call on 0800 408 5500. If you have already hired an engineer and want to check his qualifications then the Gas Safe website offers their Check An Engineer service where you can check quickly and easily, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, if your workman is safe. The online information will let you know exactly what your engineer is qualified for, so that you can check whether it is safe to hire them to carry out specific work in your home. The Gas Safe ID card also shows these details.
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