GAS SAFETY MANAGEMENT POLICY

Transcription

1 GAS SAFETY MANAGEMENT POLICY Approved by Board Approved Date 22/03/2011 Version no. Review Date Q S:\Central Services\Current Policies\Superseded Policies\Policy - Gas Safety.docx Page 1 of 9

2 CONTENTS 1. Introduction 3 2. Legal & Regulatory Framework 3 3. Aims & Objectives 4 4. Roles & Responsibilities 5 5. Policy Statement 5 6. Continuous Improvement 6 7. Monitoring 6 8. Assignment & Training of Staff 7 9. Value For Money Equality & Diversity Involving Customers Links with other Southway Policies Policy Implementation & Review History 8 S:\Central Services\Current Policies\Superseded Policies\Policy - Gas Safety.docx Page 2 of 9

3 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 Every year people die from carbon monoxide poisoning caused by gas appliances and flues, which have not been properly installed or maintained. Many others suffer ill health. Although the numbers are not high compared to fatalities and injuries from road accidents, the potential impact on Southway of a single incident would be profound. 1.2 Under the Gas Safety (Installation and use) Regulations 1998, Southway Housing Trust has a statutory duty to take all reasonable steps to carry out annual safety checks and servicing on all gas installations/fittings present in its housing stock. Failure to comply with this legislation is a criminal offence, which could result in prosecution of members of the board and senior managers of the Trust. 1.3 Southway Housing Trust have a duty to ensure that all reasonable steps are taken to ensure appropriate management systems are in place to ensure that customers are not put at risk from the effects of gas or carbon monoxide. 1.4 The Gas Safety Installation and Use Regulations place important duties on Landlords to ensure that gas appliances and flues are installed, maintained in a safe condition, inspected and serviced annually and that appropriate documentation is used to record the details of the inspection/service and any resultant remedial work. Completed installation and inspection certificates are retained for future reference and to provide a record of the landlord s commitment to maintaining the annual cycle of inspection/servicing. 1.5 The above duty accepted by the Landlord is in addition to the more general duties detailed in the Health and Safety at Work Act and the Safety at Work Regulations. 1.6 This policy and associated procedures detail the Trust s determination to fulfil its legal obligations and obligations as a landlord, ensures our tenants gas safety and also delivers the highest possible standards of service. 2. LEGAL AND REGULATORY FRAMEWORK 2.1 The Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 places a legal duty on Landlords to ensure that:- All gas fittings, appliances and associated flues are installed and maintained in a safe condition. Annual safety checks and servicing are carried out by a competent person. Records are kept and issued to customers. 2.2 Other relevant legislation: Health & Safety at Work etc Act 1974 Pipelines Safety Regulations 1996 S:\Central Services\Current Policies\Superseded Policies\Policy - Gas Safety.docx Page 3 of 9

4 Gas Safety (Management) Regulations 1996 (as amended) Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 Management of Health and Safety at Work regulations 1999 Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 1994 Pressure Systems Safety Regulations 2000 The Health and Safety (Safety Signs and Signals) Regulations 1996 The Dangerous Substances and Explosive Atmospheres Regulations 2002 Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 1995 Gas Acts 1986 and 1995 Gas Appliance (Safety) Regulations 1995 Building Regulations and Building Standards Regulations 3 AIMS & OBJECTIVES OF THE POLICY 3.1 Southway Housing Trust are aware that every year people die from carbon monoxide poisoning caused by gas appliances and flues, which have not been properly installed or maintained. Many others suffer ill health. 3.2 The Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 specifically deal with the installation, maintenance and use of gas appliances, fittings and flues in domestic and commercial properties. The regulations place duties on landlords to ensure that gas appliances, fittings and flues provided for tenants use are safe. 3.3 These duties to protect customer s safety are in addition to the more general ones that landlords have under Health and Safety legislation. Failure to comply with this legislation is a criminal offence, which could result in the prosecution of the Trust s Board and Management Team. 3.4 This policy and associated procedures detail how the Trust plans to fulfil the requirements of the legislation and achieve and sustain 100% performance in carrying out annual inspection and servicing. 3.5 The aims and objectives of the policy therefore are to: - Ensure the safety and welfare of all people, including: occupiers, residents, visitors, staff, contractors and the general public, in properties owned or managed by Southway Housing Trust. Ensure legal compliance. Maintain valid certification of all properties managed by Southway Housing Trust. Provide a timely and efficient service to customers. Minimise inconvenience and disruption whilst undertaking the servicing, repairs and new installations. Seek cost effective methods of delivering servicing, repairs and new installations. S:\Central Services\Current Policies\Superseded Policies\Policy - Gas Safety.docx Page 4 of 9

5 Have cost effective procedures for managing the servicing of void properties Have clear monitoring and no access procedures with set timescales. Demonstrate that all reasonable steps and measures are taken to ensure access to all properties and attain a gas safety certificate within a 12 month time frame. 4. ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES 4.1 Responsibility for gas safety lies ultimately with the Board although delegated authority is given to the Chief Executive of the Trust. 4.2 Day to day responsibility for compliance with the Policy is the responsibility of the Director of Regeneration and Asset Management. 5. POLICY STATEMENT 5.1 Southway housing trust will ensure the gas safety of our tenants and compliance with legislation by: Checking registration details of gas servicing, repair and installation contractors with the Gas Safe Register and ensure the competency of all persons working on and with gas installations and associated equipment prior to work commencing. Putting in place robust procedures to enable the safe management of; - The annual gas servicing programme - The gas installations within void properties - The renewal of gas installations and appliances via the repairs service or the Home Improvement Programme - Gas installations that are affected by works on or around them e.g. flues during external cladding, gas fires during chimney rebuilds, kitchen refurbishments etc via safe systems of work using appropriate permit to work procedures Ensure gas fittings and flues are maintained in a safe condition. Under the Gas Regulations all Gas Systems are to be checked. This includes a visual check on tenants own appliances in respect of gas safety, ventilation and flueing provisions. Even where there is no appliance within a property and a tenant has a gas meter, incoming gas pipe work, or a capped gas carcass, a Landlord s Gas Safety Record (LGSR) is still required. Ensure an annual safety check is carried out on each gas appliance/flue. Before any new letting we will ensure that these checks have been carried out within one year before the start of the new tenancy, unless the appliances in the property have been installed for less than 12 months, in which case they should be checked within 12 months of their installation date. New LGSR certificates are always issued on change of tenancy. Carry out maintenance and servicing according to manufacturers instructions and as specified in the annual safety check report (CP12). S:\Central Services\Current Policies\Superseded Policies\Policy - Gas Safety.docx Page 5 of 9

6 Provide copies of the current LGSR for the property to the occupier. This includes a copy for new (incoming) customers. Keep a record of each safety check for at least two years. Issue a copy of the safety check record to each existing customer within 7 days of the check being completed or to any new customer before they move in. Provide a copy of LGSR(s) on demand to Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and local authority H&S officers. Ensure that repairs and renewal of any gas appliance, whether or not covered by an annual servicing contract, are only carried out by competent contractors registered on the Gas Safe Register. 5.2 Under the terms of the Trust s Tenancy Agreement, customers must allow access to the landlords agent and employees for the purposes of carrying out:- inspections of the condition of the property repairs or other works to the property or an adjoining property gas appliance safety checks 5.3 In the case of gas appliance safety checks, we will take all reasonable steps to ensure this work is carried out. This will involve giving written notice to a customer requesting access and explaining the reason. Records will be kept of the dates of all communications and visits. Where a customer refuses access the Trust will take action for breach of tenancy. 5.4 The Trust ensures that the importance of gas safety is communicated to customers via information on the website, within the tenant s handbook and via regular features in Southway Stories. 6. CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT 6.1 The Trust is aware that 100% performance in provision of LGSR s is a minimum legal requirement. The Trust continually seeks to improve its performance and minimise the risk to the health and safety of the occupants. Working practices, procedures and customer liaison are monitored and reviewed regularly with the view to improving the efficiency of the operations. The procedure review covers not only the annual gas safety inspection process, but all gas servicing, repair and installation operations. 7. MONITORING 7.1 Gas Safety Inspection performance is included in the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) reported to ELT monthly and to Board quarterly. 7.2 Monthly performance reports are compiled by the Trusts management team. The reports detail the following performance measures Percentage of properties with a valid LGSR s (Gas Servicing) certificate. Number of tenanted properties without a LGSR (Gas Servicing) certificate, outstanding for more than 3 months. Weekly totals of issued LGSR s against programme targets. S:\Central Services\Current Policies\Superseded Policies\Policy - Gas Safety.docx Page 6 of 9

7 7.3 All LGSR s received are checked for completeness and filed on the Housing Management system where they are retained for 2 years. 7.4 All gas servicing and installation contractors carry out independent external auditing of a sample of work undertaken. In addition, Southway Housing Trust will employ independent external auditors to carry out audits on a 5% sample of servicing, and installation works. Detailed reports on the outcome of these audits are received by Southway Housing Trust and appropriate action taken. 8. ASSIGNMENT & TRAINING OF STAFF 8.1 The Trust will review the training needs of new and existing staff to ensure that they understand their roles and responsibilities as described in the gas safety procedures and are appraised of changes in regulations and industry best practice. 9. VALUE FOR MONEY 9.1 Southway is committed to delivering excellent services to all customers. Service, repair and installation costs must also compare well to others to demonstrate that resources are being used effectively in delivering the service. Southway has an overarching strategy in trying to achieve value for money across the organisation and it will continue to benchmark costs and review the allocation of resources in respect to this service. 10 EQUALITY & DIVERSITY 10.1 Southway will ensure that this policy is applied fairly to all our customers. We will not directly or indirectly discriminate against any person or group of people because of their race, religion, gender, marital status, sexual orientation, disability or other grounds set out in our Equality and Diversity Policy When applying this policy we will act sensitively towards the diverse needs of individuals and communities This policy and any other related publications of Southway Housing Trust can be provided on request in other formats (e.g. in an alternative language, in Braille, on tape, in large print). 11 INVOLVING CUSTOMERS 11.1 Customers will be encouraged to contribute to service development and to provide feedback on the performance of contractors, the materials used and the effectiveness of our policies and procedures via our Service Improvement Group, Southway Consultative Group and customer feedback questionnaires. S:\Central Services\Current Policies\Superseded Policies\Policy - Gas Safety.docx Page 7 of 9

8 12. LINKS WITH OTHER SOUTHWAY POLICIES 12.1 This policy should be read in conjunction with the following policy/policies: Gas Servicing Policy Responsive Repairs Out of Hours Emergency Repairs Voids Management Mutual Exchanges Health & Safety Equal Opportunities and Diversity S:\Central Services\Current Policies\Superseded Policies\Policy - Gas Safety.docx Page 8 of 9

9 POLICY IMPLEMENTATION AND REVIEW HISTORY Date Approved by Board: 22/03/2011 Date Implemented: Projected Date of Review: Q Review Date: Amendment(s) Made/Reason Date Approved by Board: 22/03/2011 Date Implemented: / / S:\Central Services\Current Policies\Superseded Policies\Policy - Gas Safety.docx Page 9 of 9