Big fine for breach of gas safety regulations

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has prosecuted two landlords and a gas service engineer for risking the lives of a mother and her daughter. The trio was fined a total of £19,000 at Southampton Magistrates Court.

Motoko and Emily Riley began to show signs of illness in their home in December 2007 following a period of four years in which they warned their landlords, brothers Robert and David Watts, that the boiler needed servicing. They failed to respond.

David MacDonald was the gas safety engineer who performed the annual gas safety checks on the boiler in April 2005, 2006 and 2007. On each occasion Mr MacDonald found that the boiler was without ventilation and was therefore required to turn off the appliance and place an 'At Risk' notice on it until it was fixed. He failed to do this and declared the boiler 'safe to use'.

Mrs Riley and her daughter Emily experienced serious symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning. Emily became ill and began to drift in and out of consciousness and Mrs Riley started to suffer bad headaches and began vomiting. Both were taken from the house in a barely conscious state and then taken to hospital. When HSE investigated the level of CO produced by the central heating boiler, it was so high it was off the scale of measuring equipment used by inspectors.

The Watts brothers pleaded guilty to breaching section 3(2) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. David MacDonald pleaded guilty to four counts of breaching Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998.

HSE inspector Ray Kelly says: "This case shows that it is vitally important for landlords to understand and act upon their responsibilities around gas safety. It is only by sheer good fortune that this incident did not happen at night, or the consequences could have been far worse".

 

Source - PHAM News

Posted Date: 26th Apr 2010