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Gas and Carbon Monoxide Safety Policy

Introduction

At the time of Policy Review Bassetlaw District Council owns and manages in the region of 6698 tenanted properties. Approximately 89% of these properties – 5938 have Natural Gas appliances installed. 

Either communal gas boiler systems, fossil fuel burning appliances (Fuel Oil / Solid Fuel), Electric heating and hot water systems, or Renewable Energy systems (Air or Ground Source Heat Pumps) serve the remainder.  Bassetlaw District Council has a responsibility to maintain all installations and appliances owned by it within its stock to the required standard and legislative detail. 

This Policy explains how the safety and maintenance requirements for Gas appliances and installations (and those of other fuel types covered by this Policy) – within domestic and non-domestic properties funded via the Housing Revenue Account and as a result directly managed by Housing Services staff – will be met. Individual Gas Safety Procedures and Processes are contained in the Gas and Carbon Monoxide Safety Management Policy. It will also cover how Bassetlaw District Council/Cabinet, as Duty Holder, will receive assurance of statutory and regulatory compliance.

Statement of Intent

Alongside this Policy will sit Bassetlaw District Council's Corporate Gas Safety Procedures, which emphasise and illustrate the organisation's commitment and approach to Gas Safety compliance within its non-Housing Revenue Account funded facilities as managed by other staff of the Council outside of Housing Services.

This Policy covers domestic Gas Safety in tenanted properties, the Gas installations present in them and in-use Gas appliances; and where required Solid Fuel including Biomass, Oil-Fired, Air and Ground Source Heat Pumps and Solar Thermal hot water. It also covers properties with a gas supply or a readily available gas supply (but no gas appliances) and other activities that are undertaken at the same time as servicing / inspection of the above appliances.

Maintenance of electric only heating will be covered within the Electrical Safety Management Plan.

Bassetlaw District Council will comply with all current and relevant legislation and specifically as detailed in the following:

  • Health and Safety at Work Act 1974,
  • The Gas Safety (Installation and Use) (Amendment) Regulations (GSIUR) 2018,
  • Gas Safety (Management) Regulations 1996,
  • British Standards,
  • Building Regulations.

There is no similar, specific legislation for solid fuel or oil-fired appliances. However, Bassetlaw District Council takes the view that other legislation such as the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and Landlord Tenant Act 1985 may be applied. 

In addition, as a Landlord and provider of Social Housing Bassetlaw District Council must meet the requirements of the Regulator for Social Housing’s (RSH) Home Standard.  

It is essential to ensure that customers, residents, employees and visitors remain safe in Bassetlaw District Council’s premises (both individual homes and offices). Failure to properly discharge our legal or regulatory responsibilities may also result in:

  • Prosecution by the Health and Safety Executive under Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.
  • Prosecution under Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007.
  • RSH’s scrutiny.
  • Reputational damage to the Authority and Staff.
  • Loss of confidence by stakeholders in the organisation.

Policy

In order to comply with regulatory standards and legal obligations, and to ensure the safety of its customers, staff, contractors and other visitors to their properties, Bassetlaw District Council will:

Process

  • Provide clear lines of responsibility for all appliances and heating systems within the scope of this Policy supported by written guidance in the Gas and Carbon Monoxide Safety Management Plan.
  • Ensure that a clear and consistent process including front-line engagement and enforcement is in place to obtain access to properties to conduct the Safety Checks, which shall include legal action when required.
  • Proactively assess available data for relevant information about the customer to help gain access (disability, vulnerability, local connections, etc.).
    •    Maintain a process for dealing with gas safety unsafe situations in accordance with the Gas Safety Regulations, IGEM/G/11 and associated Regulations.

Delivery

  • Target that all domestic properties with Natural Gas installations, Natural Gas appliances, and Natural Gas supplies have a valid Landlord Gas Safety Record (LGSR).
  • Target that all domestic properties with Liquid Petroleum Gas installations and appliances have a valid Landlord Gas Safety Record (LGSR). 
  • Target that all domestic properties with Solid Fuel installations and appliances have a valid HETAS inspection certificate.
  • Target that all domestic properties with Fuel Oil installations and appliances have a valid OFTEC inspection certificate.
  • Inspect all properties with Air Source, Ground Source and Solar Thermal heating/hot water annually and obtain appropriate documentation. 
  • All other properties with potential to have a gas supply will be subject to an annual check to confirm that no gas supply has been installed.
  • Landlords do not have a legal responsibility for carrying out annual service or maintenance to gas appliances owned by the tenant/s. However, at the time of the LGSR annual Safety Check, Bassetlaw District Council will also check all tenant owned gas appliances for safety. This will be done by means of:
    • A visual risk assessment check in line with Gas Safety (Installation and Use) 2018 - Regulation 26(9).
    • Application of the relevant Bassetlaw District Council Gas Safety Procedure.
        
  • This is in order to comply with other legislation such as HASAWA 1974 and The Tenant and Landlord Act, and to ensure any works completed by the tenant that may have been undertaken since the last Safety Check are identified. Any safety critical faults found on a tenant owned appliance will result in the appliance being isolated and disconnected from the gas supply and the tenant informed. The Council will not be liable for repairs to tenant owned appliances.
  • Ensure, where required, that commercial systems and pressure vessels have a written scheme of examination.
  • Disconnect and cap off the gas supply at the gas meter and make safe upon a property becoming void.  When the property is then re-let the gas supply is reconnected and a new gas safety inspection will take place with the issue of a new gas safety certificate (LGSR). If a property is void for more than a 12-month period a service/inspection visit will be made on the anniversary date to ascertain that the gas supply is still capped and disconnected, (unless the gas has been terminated at the highway outside the property by the transporter and we are in receipt of a disconnection certificate).
  • Prioritise defects and remedial works arising from Gas Safety Checks and apply a timescale for action, as detailed within the Gas and Carbon Monoxide Safety Management Plan.

Additional Safety Measures

  • Install Carbon Monoxide Detectors in all properties with a gas supply – or with any Council-owned heating system or appliance which represents a Carbon Monoxide exposure risk - and test these on an annual basis in conjunction with the annual safety inspection visits and record this test on the Landlord Gas Safety Record (or other applicable Record/Certification).
  • Test Smoke and Heat alarms in conjunction with the gas safety inspection visits and record on the Landlord Gas Safety Record.
  • Implement an ongoing programme to upgrade all Carbon Monoxide Detectors and Smoke Alarms from battery power to hard-wired systems.
  • Permission for tenants to install, wood burning stoves or open fires will be sanctioned upon request/s, providing all set mandatory criteria and detail is provided and compliant. In accordance with Paragraph 6.8. of the Council’s Standard Tenancy Agreement, any unauthorised or non-compliant installations will be removed by Bassetlaw District Council’s appointed contractor at the tenant’s own expense. 
  • Require that other tenant alterations should be subject to prior notification, agreement and permission to proceed before they are undertaken. Approval will not be unreasonably withheld.  

Contractors Competency

  • Only engage with Gas Safe Registered companies and Gas Safe Registered engineers, with the appropriate Nationally Accredited Certification Scheme (ACS) to undertake any gas related works.
  • Ensure that contractors working with Solid Fuel appliances are competent to do so and hold current HETAS qualification and registrations. 
  • Carry out an assessment of all contractor competencies annually or at change of contract /contractor, as detailed within the Gas and Carbon Monoxide Safety Management Plan.

Internal Competency

  • Maintain a skills/training matrix to ensure that all staff undertaking key roles within the scope of this Policy have appropriate training.
  • Operate a detailed competence framework including regular appraisals as part of the Gas and Carbon Monoxide Safety Management Plan.

Data

  • Maintain an up to date Master Database of all properties that have a gas supply including those that may not have a live gas supply but can be readily connected to the gas grid.
  • For each relevant property record maintain up to date data confirming which of the appliances within the scope of this Policy exist and do not exist and the organisation’s associated responsibility.
  • Where a requirement exists, hold data and certification relating to the last two Safety Checks and the next due date.
  • Where a requirement does not exist hold appropriate evidence.
  • Maintain current and up to date records of remedial works for the entire portfolio, which will detail all recommendations from the Safety Check. The records will include; address and risk profile of the property, detail of the work item required, priority and target completion, person responsible, when the work was completed and who it was signed off by, and evidence of completion.

Assurance

  • Ensure that all persons involved with the installation, inspection, servicing and maintenance of Gas, Solid Fuel, Fuel Oil, and Renewable Technology systems are competent to do so. This would include evidence and confirmation of persons being properly trained and accredited in accordance with this Policy.
  • Where necessary, operate a permit to work system when safety critical work is being carried out near to appliances and flues by engineers that are not Gas Safe Registered /HETAS or OFTEC approved. 
  • Carry out works-based assurance activity including checks on certification and post-inspection of on-site works to the level stated within the Gas and Carbon Monoxide Safety Management Plan. A proportion of such checks will be carried out by an Independent 3rd Party.
  • Set a timetable for the review of the Gas and Carbon Monoxide Safety Policy and the associated Management Plan.

Communication

  • Encourage customers, through the provision of publicity information on the importance of gas and other heating safety, to allow access to carry out checks and maintenance works.

Implementation

This Policy will be effective from December 2019 following Council/Cabinet approval.

Staff will be made aware of the Policy at priority training and a copy will be available on the intranet. The Policy will be uploaded to the Bassetlaw District Council website.

This Policy should also be read in conjunction with the Compliance Strategy and Gas and Carbon Monoxide Safety Management Plan. 

There will be training provided for all those staff involved with the delivery and implementation of the Compliance function both operationally and legislatively.

Consultation

This Policy is based on legislative and regulatory requirements and as such, consultation with customers has not taken place. There has been consultation with internal teams within Bassetlaw District Council. 

Equality Impact Analysis (EIA)

We believe all people should be treated with dignity and respect regardless of their age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race (including, nationality, ethnic or national origins), religion, belief or non-belief, sex, or sexuality or by association with someone with any of these characteristics or perception of having any of these characteristics.

The Equality Impact Assessment was undertaken October 2019 and no adverse discrimination was found. (See the full EA document for further details).

The Council Plan 2019 to 2023 has actions to ‘Improve the quality and performance of Bassetlaw’s housing stock, by regularly inspecting them to ensure that they are maintained to the highest possible standard’ and ‘Ensure that our housing stock is safe and compliant’.

The Council, as a Landlord has statutory, regulatory and legislative requirements it must comply with in respect of areas of compliance. These include but are not restricted to Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, Construction (Design Management) Regulations 2015, Control of Asbestos Regulation 2012, Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998, Electricity at Work Regulations 1989, Housing Act 2004.

Failure to comply with these requirements could expose tenants and residents to injury, extreme harm or death and the Council being fined or prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive.

Monitoring Performance

The following KPIs will be reported:

  • % of Properties with a valid LGSR within the past 12 months. Ref: C001    
  • % of Properties with other heating types covered by this Policy with a valid certificate within the relevant period (if and when required). Ref: C002
  • % of Commercial Boilers and Pressure Vessels with valid certification within the relevant period. Ref: C003
  • The total number of reportable incidents under RIDDOR for all 6 compliance areas. Ref: C016

Commentary will be provided for any properties out of date; to include the date they became overdue, days overdue, and their position within the access legal process to bring them back into a compliant position. Additional context commentary will also include information on the proportion of activities within the reporting period that were undertaken before and after their due date.

A detailed Performance Indicator suite will be defined, within the Management Plan.

The following quality assurance activity will be undertaken and reported in line with the Management Plan:

  • Internal Audit
  • Strategic Review
  • 3rd Party Assurance 

Policy Review

The Policy will be reviewed every 12 months or earlier if deemed necessary though the performance monitoring process. 

Version 6.0.

Last Updated on Tuesday, April 21, 2026