Government urged to extend gas safety certificates as associations fear for workers’ safety

Inside Housing has heard from associations that are continuing to carry out statutory gas safety checks while repairs work is stripped back to emergencies only. The majority have raised fears for the safety of their staff members working under the current guidance.

Ian Johnson, director of property services at Karbon Homes, told Inside Housing: “We would welcome the governing bodies to think again about extending certification from 12 to 18 months for gas servicing in the social housing sector.

“We recognise that this is a national and global crisis, but we don’t want colleagues putting themselves unnecessarily at risk, especially when we have got modern systems and boilers in place, many of which already have in-built fail safes.”

Mr Johnson said a review of the current system is needed, particularly given that the government has announced a similar six-month extension to MOT testing for cars.

Karbon had paused gas servicing on Tuesday last week, following prime minister Boris Johnson’s announcement of a lockdown, but decided on Thursday to resume servicing works this week after guidance from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).

The comments come as new government guidance published at the weekend told landlords to “make every effort” to abide by existing gas safety regulations.

Claire Heyes, chief executive of Corgi Technical Services, whose members include around 800 housing associations and local authorities, told Inside Housing: “I’m in discussion with all of our members that are looking after gas safety.

“They are under a huge amount of pressure, so we are in consultation with the HSE trying to get them to look at potentially extending the 12-month deadline but that is not something they are going to do lightly.”

Ms Heyes added: “Providers must notify the regulator if they think they are going to become non-compliant, and I think nearly all will become non-compliant in the coming weeks.