HSE fires warning as council told to pay £100,000 over gas safety failings

The Health & Safety Executive has warned local authorities and other landlords of the importance of annual gas safety checks after a London borough was last week ordered to pay almost £100,000 in a fine and costs.

Hammersmith and Fulham Council pleaded guilty at Westminster Magistrates’ Court to nine separate breaches of Regulation 36(3)(a) of the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 in relation to lapsed checks. A further 14 breaches were also taken into consideration.

The HSE launched an investigation after a tenant at Stewarts Lodge, a multi-occupancy emergency hostel, complained that a gas safety certificate was not available.

When conducting checks in July 2009, the regulator found that a gas safety record for the property had expired in April 2008 – 15 months previously.

The HSE then asked Hammersmith and Fulham to provide a ‘lapse table’ for other properties where annual safety checks had slipped.

The council handed over a list of 297 properties. The HSE then investigated 20 of these properties, all of which contained gas cookers or boilers that should have been checked at least every 12 months.

Hammersmith and Fulham is required by law to arrange annual checks by a Gas Safe registered engineer and keep and maintain gas safety records for all the properties it provides in its capacity as a landlord.

The council was fined £83,600 and ordered to pay full costs of £15,553.

HSE Inspector Nicola Maisuria said: "As a landlord, the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham is legally responsible for the safety of its tenants in relation to gas safety. In failing to carry out the required annual gas safety checks on appliances in its properties, and maintain records of each safety check, the authority could have exposed tenants to additional potential risks of Carbon Monoxide poisoning.

"The council has now instigated a new monitoring and control regime to improve safety and to meet its legal obligations as a landlord. I welcome this improvement, and I hope today's prosecution sends a clear message to other local authorities and all landlords that they must ensure they carry out all necessary gas safety checks."

A spokesman for Hammersmith & Fulham Council said: “The council pleaded guilty to a series of serious administrative failures, between April 2008 and August 2010, concerning the timely completion of gas safety certificates and would like to apologise unreservedly to our tenants in the private sector leased properties concerned.

“As a responsible landlord, there is nothing more important to the council than the safety of our tenants and, as soon as we discovered these failings, we acted decisively to rectify these unacceptable breaches. All of the officers directly associated with these failings no longer work for the council and we have completely overhauled our procedures in this area so that every one of these properties now has a valid gas safety certificate.”

More information about gas safety can be found on the HSE’s website.