The Health and Safety at Work (Northern Ireland) Order 1978 is the primary piece of legislation covering work-related health and safety in Northern Ireland. It sets out a lot of your employer’s responsibilities for your health and safety at work. Additionally, specific regulations cover particular areas, including lead, asbestos, chemicals, construction work, and gas safety. Visit the HSENI website for the many ways in which they can help you with these particular issues.

If you have boiler cover, which you can sometimes acquire from your energy supplier, alongside your gas and electricity tariff, the annual servicing of your boiler, which normally costs £80, may be covered. If you’re a landlord, you’re required by law to have all gas appliances supplied by you to be safety checked annually by a registered engineer. Pipework and flues should also be inspected. If you’re a tenant, you should receive a record of the annual gas safety checks on the property, known as the the Landlord Gas Safety record, at the start of your tenancy, and within 28 days of any new check.

Section 2 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 states that an employer or self-employed person has a responsibility to provide and maintain plant and systems of work that are, so far as reasonably practical, safe and without risk to health. Statutory Instrument 1998 No. 2306: The Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 requires that the user of an installed gas system and the owner of a mobile gas system shall ensure that the system is properly maintained in good repair to prevent danger. See more details at CP7 Gas Inspections.

Generally, an appliance safety check will just ensure that the appliance is safe to use, whilst a service is more thorough and may include more specific checks as well as an inspection of the appliance’s condition and cleaning. A full gas installation safety check should include inspection of all gas appliances as well as all accessible pipework. Why are gas safety checks and services so important? Most importantly, having your gas appliances safety checked annually will give you peace of mind that they are not putting you, your family, or your home in danger, and that they are safe to use. There are other benefits of regular safety checks and services as well though.