Decoding Your Gas Safety Certificate: What Each Reading Means

Gas safety certificates are important documents for every landlord and tenant in the UK. It is a legal requirement for landlords to have their properties inspected for gas safety on an annual basis, as per the provisions of the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998. Once the gas safety inspection is completed successfully, the landlords get the most important document: the “gas safety certificate.”

Using gas for residential or commercial purposes is a common practice, all around the world, including the UK. Although it is quite safe to use gas in homes and commercial buildings, it does have a certain level of risks. The most common risk is leakage of gas, which may result in fire or explosion. But it has another potential risk in shape of carbon monoxide poisoning, which is more dangerous for human health.

Many incidents of gas explosion, fire and carbon monoxide poisoning occur every year, causing damage to properties and injuries and deaths of the occupants. These gas accidents mainly occur due to violation of gas safety regulations. Annual gas safety check and getting a valid gas safety certificate is one of the most important part of these regulations. It was reported that more than 60000 homes were able to avoid gas accidents by successfully implementing this important clause of the prevalent gas safety regulations.

Gas Safety Certificate

Gas Safety Certificate or Gas Safety Record is a document that is issued after a successful annual gas safety inspection. Previously it was known as CP12. More commonly, the gas safety certificate is also referred to as Landlord’s Gas Safety Certificate, because it is more relevant to the landlords. Homeowners are not required to have it.

The gas safety inspection or gas safety check is a pre-requisite of getting a gas safety certificate. This can only be conducted by a qualified gas safety engineer, registered with Gas Safe Register.

Gas Safe Register 

Gas safe register is the official body in the UK which registers qualified gas safety engineers by issuing them a license to work on gas appliances and installations. Any gas service-providing company can get it registered with a gas safe register, with the condition that it must have at least one qualified gas safety engineer. Before the inception of the gas safe register in 2009, this important task was being handled by the “Council of Registered Gas Installers,” commonly referred to as CORGI.

Since 2009, the CORGI has been abolished and replaced by the Gas Safe Register. The official website of the Gas Safe Register maintains the correct credentials of qualified gas engineers. The engineers listed on the gas safe register are authorized to conduct gas safety inspections. They are also authorized to issue gas safety certificates to the landlords. Any inspection conducted by an engineer who is not registered with the gas safe register will be invalid for the purpose of issuance of gas safety records.

The license issued by the gas safe register is valid for one year and needs renewal on an annual basis. Under the law, only the engineer registered with the gas safe register is authorized to conduct gas safety inspections at homes and commercial properties. On successful inspection and satisfying himself that the gas appliances are functioning in conformity with the safety standards, he will issue a Gas Safety Certificate, also called Gas Safety Records or, more commonly, CP 12.

If the gas safety inspection fails, the engineer will not issue the gas safety record and the landlord will have to get the faults fixed and arrange re-inspection by the gas safe registered engineer.

Validity of Gas Safety Certificate

The Gas Safety Certificate is valid for 12 months. It needs renewal, for which the landlord will have to arrange a gas safety inspection for all the gas appliances installed in his property. This has to be done in the last two months of the expiry of the current gas safety certificate.

Decoding Your Gas Safety Certificate

A gas safety certificate is a comprehensive document that has all the necessary information about the following:

• Complete information about the property and the landlord. This includes the complete address, name, and contact details of the landlord.
• Credentials of the gas safety engineer who inspected the property for gas safety. This includes his ID, name, and contact number.
• Details of all the gas appliances and allied installations inspected by the engineer, including the precise location of each appliance in the property.

So, a gas safety certificate should essentially have the following information on it:

• Date of inspection.
• Address of the property inspected.
• Name of the landlord, his representative or agent, with contact details
• Name and identity number of the gas safety engineer, as appears on his ID card issued by Gas Safe Register.
• Signature of the gas safety engineer.

• The exact location of each appliance in the property.
• Details of the gas appliances inspected by the engineer.
• Current status of the appliances, mentioning their operational condition, whether fit for use or not.

What Each Reading Means

All the inspected appliances will be rated by the engineer based on their operational condition. The certificate will have a complete list of appliances, with current status mentioned against each:

• The appliances found fit for use will be rated accordingly as Fit For Use.
• The appliances not found fit for use will be rated as under:
  • ID – Immediately dangerous. Appliances marked as ID need repair or replacement, as the case may be, urgently. These are practically not fit for instant use and dangerous if used without proper fault rectification.
  • AR—At risk. The appliances rated as AR must be replaced urgently, as they are not fit for use. However, their risk is relatively less than the above category ID, but they must be repaired as soon as possible.
  • NCS—Not to the Current Standards. These appliances can be used safely, though they are not according to the current standards due to their older versions. However, they also need to be replaced with new ones as soon as possible.

On successful inspection, the engineer will give the gas safety certificate to the landlord. The landlord is required to provide a copy of this certificate to his tenants within 48 hours.

Template of Gas Safety Certificate

Gas safety certificates normally have the following layout:

• The box in the upper left corner shows the credentials of the gas safety engineer. The engineer is bound to incorporate all his relevant information in this box, which can also be cross-checked with his ID Card.
• Just below this box, details of the property inspected, including the landlord's name, contact number, and address, are mentioned. 
• The third box is for the details of the landlord or his representative.
• The right side of the gas safety certificate gives details of each appliance checked by the engineer. Ensuring that all the appliances installed on your premises are included here is important.
• The certificate against each appliance also mentions each appliance's status, whether fit for use or not.
• The certificate precisely mentions the details of the faults identified by the engineer, alongside the remedial steps taken or suggested by him.
• The total number of appliances checked is also mentioned.
• Space is provided at the bottom of the template for the signatures of both the inspecting engineer and the landlord or his agent or representative.
• The bottom left corner contains the inspection results, whether Pass or Fail. If the outcome fails, the landlord must arrange a re-inspection after rectifying the faults and defects.
• The gas safety engineer should enter the due date of the next inspection in the bottom right corner of the template. This is very important and should never be omitted.
• The official logo of the Gas Safe Register must appear in the upper right corner of the certificate. Without this logo, the gas safety certificate will be considered fake or invalid.

Conclusion

A gas safety record or gas safety certificate is a very important document. It is proof that an authorized gas safety engineer inspected the property. This certificate remains effective for one year, after which it needs renewal.

The gas safety certificate is a comprehensive document showing all the relevant information about the property and the landlord. It also has detailed information about all the gas appliances installed on the property and examined by the engineer. It also contains different codes mentioned against each appliance. Hence, the landlords and tenants must understand the purpose and meanings of each information provided on this certificate.