Silent Killer
Rogue gas fitters facing jail as safety law passes hurdle
ROGUE gas fitters who put people at risk of carbon monoxide poisoning will face jail instead of a fine, in a major victory for The Northern Echo's Silent Killer campaign.
A backbench Bill to dramatically increase punishments for negligent work - including on gas appliances - has won Government support.
The backing means the Health and Safety (Offences) Bill, which cleared its first Commons hurdle on Friday, is now odds-on to become law.
Keith Hill, the Labour MP for Streatham, in south London, has also courted the opposition parties, to ensure his Bill reaches the statute book quickly.
It is prompted by scandals such as a badly-trained gas fitters escaping with fines as low as £4,000 when their actions have claimed lives. Earlier this month, it was revealed that up to 20,000 rogue fitters - either untrained or deregistered for negligence - are servicing gas fires and boilers in British homes.
A Commons debate heard that 1.5 million gas appliances were being installed every year by workers not registered by the Council for Registered Gas Installers (Corgi).
CO poisoning claims up to 20 lives each year and injures a further 200 people. Those victims suffer kidney failure, blindness, brain damage, memory loss, personality changes and incontinence.
The Northern Echo launched its Silent Killer campaign following the death of Anne Brennan, a 19-year-old student from Houghton-le-Spring, Wearside, in Durham City accommodation in 1995. An inquest ruled she was unlawfully killed and her landlord was fined £10,000 for failing to ensure the boiler in the property was properly maintained.
Mr Hill told MPs: "There is a history, going back to the mid-Nineties, of judges expressing discontent at being unable to impose jail sentences for health and safety offences.
"I believe the courts are right to call for the availability of the penalty of imprisonment."
In reply, Anne McGuire, a work and pensions minister, revealed her department would throw its weight behind the legislation, to stamp out "derisory" penalties.
2:01am Monday 4th February 2008
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CommentPosted by: kd, consett on 10:02am Mon 4 Feb 08
65,000,000 homes in the UK
1,500,000 new boilers fitted each year
20 people die.
Statisticaly that would not even register as a problem nor even as an issue to be addressed.
How many OAP's die through not being able to afford to heat their homes?
How many children are killed each year by speeding drivers?
How many people cannot afford to have their boiler serviced because of the very high prices of a plumber?
Its all in the numbers. Create laws that jail the likes of the Northern Rock management
65,000,000 homes in the UK
1,500,000 new boilers fitted each year
20 people die.
Statisticaly that would not even register as a problem nor even as an issue to be addressed.
How many OAP's die through not being able to afford to heat their homes?
How many children are killed each year by speeding drivers?
How many people cannot afford to have their boiler serviced because of the very high prices of a plumber?
Its all in the numbers. Create laws that jail the likes of the Northern Rock management
Posted by: Paul Lerner, Feltham on 10:57am Mon 4 Feb 08
Agree with KD. Last year only 8 people died from carbon monoxide poisoning due to gas appliances. By contrast 10,000 people men died of prostate cancer. Meanwhile NICE have not allowed funding for the most effective treatment with the least side effects. As a perspective landlord gas safety certificates that possibly save 10 lives a year cost £300,000,000 pounds thats £30 million per life saved whereas offering treatment to 10,000 men with prostate cancer would cost £130 million pounds at £13,000 per treatment.
Note this is not the only really significant preventable cause of death that could be addressed. Deaths from blood clots in hospital are said to run at 40,000 a year.
I have recently written to Barry Sheerman head of the All Party Gas Safety Group at the House of Commons pointing out that Radon also a gas kills 1500 people a year thats as many people in one year as die in 200 years from carbon monoxide due to gas appliances.
The hype that CO has as " The silent killer" and the commonest cause of poisoning in the UK is such nonsense. Radon is no less silent and certainly far more deserves the title of the commonest poison in the UK.
The truth is that CO poisoning is a multimillion pound business generating large sums of money for vested interests whilst the reality is that the number of deaths caused whilst extremely tragic for the families concerned is extremely insignificant when looking at the pattern of preventable deaths in this country.
Agree with KD. Last year only 8 people died from carbon monoxide poisoning due to gas appliances. By contrast 10,000 people men died of prostate cancer. Meanwhile NICE have not allowed funding for the most effective treatment with the least side effects. As a perspective landlord gas safety certificates that possibly save 10 lives a year cost £300,000,000 pounds thats £30 million per life saved whereas offering treatment to 10,000 men with prostate cancer would cost £130 million pounds at £13,000 per treatment.
Note this is not the only really significant preventable cause of death that could be addressed. Deaths from blood clots in hospital are said to run at 40,000 a year.
I have recently written to Barry Sheerman head of the All Party Gas Safety Group at the House of Commons pointing out that Radon also a gas kills 1500 people a year thats as many people in one year as die in 200 years from carbon monoxide due to gas appliances.
The hype that CO has as " The silent killer" and the commonest cause of poisoning in the UK is such nonsense. Radon is no less silent and certainly far more deserves the title of the commonest poison in the UK.
The truth is that CO poisoning is a multimillion pound business generating large sums of money for vested interests whilst the reality is that the number of deaths caused whilst extremely tragic for the families concerned is extremely insignificant when looking at the pattern of preventable deaths in this country.
Posted by: bg, England on 1:56pm Tue 5 Feb 08
Paul Lerner, the article is about rogue fitters not landlords. However, the bill for the Landlord's Certificate is footed by the Landlord, not the taxpayer, unlike the treatment for prostate cancer, so these costs are not comparable. Besides, you can't claim Landlord's certificates are the sole preventative measure for CO related deaths. I've found it's more frequently the DIY'er who thinks he/she can fit a condensing boiler because they've done a little bit of plumbing. I've condemned several DIY installations where the appliance could have potentially killed a member of the installers family. Will these people be classed as 'rogue fitters' or will that title only apply to the qualified installer?
However, I agree that not enough attention is given to radon gas and prostate cancer deaths.
kd, plumbers do not work on gas, gas fitters/heating engineers do. To be CORGI registered to work on unvented systems, LP and methane gases, domestic, commercial, kitchen appliances, etc is expensive and so reflected in the call out costs.
You also say that 20 people dying would not be an issue to be addressed, yet you suggest that the high prices of a plumber needs to be addressed so that people can afford to have their boilers checked for safety. So on one hand you're saying it doesn't need to be addressed, but on the other you're saying is does.
Paul Lerner, the article is about rogue fitters not landlords. However, the bill for the Landlord's Certificate is footed by the Landlord, not the taxpayer, unlike the treatment for prostate cancer, so these costs are not comparable. Besides, you can't claim Landlord's certificates are the sole preventative measure for CO related deaths. I've found it's more frequently the DIY'er who thinks he/she can fit a condensing boiler because they've done a little bit of plumbing. I've condemned several DIY installations where the appliance could have potentially killed a member of the installers family. Will these people be classed as 'rogue fitters' or will that title only apply to the qualified installer?
However, I agree that not enough attention is given to radon gas and prostate cancer deaths.
kd, plumbers do not work on gas, gas fitters/heating engineers do. To be CORGI registered to work on unvented systems, LP and methane gases, domestic, commercial, kitchen appliances, etc is expensive and so reflected in the call out costs.
You also say that 20 people dying would not be an issue to be addressed, yet you suggest that the high prices of a plumber needs to be addressed so that people can afford to have their boilers checked for safety. So on one hand you're saying it doesn't need to be addressed, but on the other you're saying is does.
Posted by: Paul Lerner on 4:27pm Tue 5 Feb 08
No I proportioned out the decrease in deaths between landlord properties and owner occupiers. Rented property represents a 1/3 of the housing market but disproportionately there is about 1/2 the deaths in these. At the latest Fundamental Review of Gas Safety a lot of the credit for deaths coming down was given in one report due to appliances being made safer anyway.
The point I am making is that the government is very partial about which causes of death they address.
Also the general feeling amongst registered gas installers is that if there weren't so many parasitic organisations feeding off the back of installers and rather less prescriptive legislation people would actually be able to afford servicing more. Also they would be less inclined to use unregistered installers if the registered could afford to be cheaper.In fact 50% of all incidents happen in properties where servicing hasn't been done for 5 years or so.
The latest CPA1 in flue gas analysis will just increase servicing costs more, and as Dr Ben Croxford who has carried out research into CO agreed when he looked into it after I pointed this out to him , over 90% of his At Risk appliances were found without the aid of Flue Gas Analysis.
No I proportioned out the decrease in deaths between landlord properties and owner occupiers. Rented property represents a 1/3 of the housing market but disproportionately there is about 1/2 the deaths in these. At the latest Fundamental Review of Gas Safety a lot of the credit for deaths coming down was given in one report due to appliances being made safer anyway.
The point I am making is that the government is very partial about which causes of death they address.
Also the general feeling amongst registered gas installers is that if there weren't so many parasitic organisations feeding off the back of installers and rather less prescriptive legislation people would actually be able to afford servicing more. Also they would be less inclined to use unregistered installers if the registered could afford to be cheaper.In fact 50% of all incidents happen in properties where servicing hasn't been done for 5 years or so.
The latest CPA1 in flue gas analysis will just increase servicing costs more, and as Dr Ben Croxford who has carried out research into CO agreed when he looked into it after I pointed this out to him , over 90% of his At Risk appliances were found without the aid of Flue Gas Analysis.
Posted by: Tony Land on 11:09pm Tue 5 Feb 08
About time somebody like Mr Lerner pointed out the facts and forgets PC.
Well done for putting things in perspective. Just have to convince those at parliament to reconsider there views and concentrate on running the country effectively instead of ordering more Petty Cash vouchers
About time somebody like Mr Lerner pointed out the facts and forgets PC.
Well done for putting things in perspective. Just have to convince those at parliament to reconsider there views and concentrate on running the country effectively instead of ordering more Petty Cash vouchers
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