Gas Safety Week is a national, annual campaign co-ordinated by Gas Safe Register, the official list of gas engineers who are legally allowed to work on gas appliances. Every year, the campaign aims to help people understand the importance of gas safety and what can happen if appliances go unchecked.
This year’s campaign runs from 11 – 17 September 2023 and we have signed up to support it.
Why is Gas Safety so important?
Because gas can be extremely dangerous if appliances are allowed to go unchecked or have been fitted by unqualified engineers.
As your landlord, we have a legal requirement to make sure the appliances we own in your home are gas safe. This involves an annual safety check. The check is carried out at no cost to you by our Gas Safe registered contractors.
When we write to you to let you know your safety check is due, please let us in to carry it out. Being gas safe is extremely important, explosions from faulty or unchecked appliances are not just a danger to you and your family, but your neighbours and the community. All landlords are required by law to carry out a safety check and, if we can’t gain access, we may need to take legal measures to make sure we can. We’d rather not do that, we’d rather you, your family and your neighbours be safe, warm and comfortable in your homes.
Our Assets and Compliance Performance Manager Hayley Firth says “Your safety is our top priority, which is why it’s so important that you let us into your homes to carry out our annual gas safety check when it is due. This makes sure that the gas appliances we own in your homes are safe, and that smoke alarms and carbon monoxide detectors are working properly. It’s a crucial part of our service to you.”
“It’s also really important that you check your heating is working properly before the winter months. All you need to do is set your heating at a temperature which is higher than your current room temperature and your heating should come on. If it doesn’t, please get in touch so we can fix any problems before the weather turns cold. We see many more heating repair requests in winter and, as demands for labour and parts are much higher during the colder months when everyone is using their heating, it can mean waiting longer for any issues to be fixed.”
We can completely understand why you might be worried about putting your heating on at all this winter because of the cost, but we want to make sure you are as safe and warm in your home as possible. A cold home can mean damp, mould and condensation has chance to form which not only affects the health and wellbeing of you and your family, but your home too.
If you are worried about your heating or any other bills, or you have any questions about gas safety, please speak to one of our housing hub advisors or visit our Supporting our Customers webpage.
