Natural Gas: Safety

(asked on 27th January 2023) - View Source

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will amend legislation on gas safety checks undertaken by landlords to ensure that the person making the check must either (a) undertake a service according to manufacturer’s instructions or (b) follow the procedures in part four of BS7967 to use Flue Gas Analysers meeting EN50379 to measure the combustion gases for (i) parts per million of CO and (ii) the ratio of CO to CO2 and keep a record of those measurements.


Answered by
Mims Davies Portrait
Mims Davies
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
This question was answered on 1st February 2023

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is responsible for the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 (GSIUR), which include landlord gas safety duties.

There are no plans to amend the legislation because, under Regulation 36(2) of GSIUR, landlords are already required to ensure that relevant fittings and flues are maintained in a safe condition. The Approved Code of Practice states effective maintenance of appliances usually involves an ongoing programme of regular/periodic inspections together with necessary remedial work. In the absence of specific manufacturers’ instructions, it explains what minimum effective maintenance should include.

The Regulations also require landlord gas safety checks to include examinations of a gas appliance, including its operation so as to ensure its safe functioning. This can be achieved in a number of ways including by use of a flue gas analyser. The Landlord Gas Safety Record should include confirmation that the checks undertaken comply with these requirements.

Prescribing the use of flue gas analysers could have an unintended consequence of narrowing the scope of the checks as they cannot be used on all types of appliances.

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