Dear Chris,

Please see below an article highlighting the risk of lack of skirt ventilation.

Members of The Organisation of Professional Operatives (OPGO) have had concerns in this regard for several years. On their behalf we have raised the issue with Gas Safe Register, who tell us to follow unsafe procedures and issue a warning notice. We have also brought it up at the Gas Industry Liaison Group where the UKLPGA didn't have the courtesy to even give us a reply, but the HP&PHA at least advised that they would inform their members via their quarterly newsletter.

Up and down the country our members continually come across lack of skirt ventilation, yet this is never rectified and no one in the industry wants to take a proactive role in tackling this potentially dangerous ongoing situation.

If HSE is willing to prosecute, and cite lack of skirt ventilation in that prosecution, is it also willing to be proactive in trying to get to grips with what could turn out to be a major problem?

>From our members point of view, if the situation is "At Risk" under the GIUSP then this issue cannot be ignored by HSE and the industry ad infinitum; the other alternative is to downgrade lack of skirt ventilation to "NCS".

 

Plumber and mobile home park fined as residents left at risk

Date:
26 March 2010

An Essex plumber has been prosecuted for carrying out substandard and illegal work at a mobile home park, exposing residents to serious risk.
Harlow Magistrates' Court heard today how Michael O'Sullivan laid gas pipes underneath a property without ensuring there was proper ventilation.

The pipes passed through a brick base, which the mobile home sat upon, and the lack of ventilation meant any gas leak could have accumulated underneath the home and formed a deadly mixture.

Mr O'Sullivan was fined £1,000 with £500 costs and Sines Parks Ltd, the park management company which hired him to do the work, was also fined £2,500 with £2,000 costs.
Speaking after the case, HSE Inspector Steve Hook said:

"If one of these pipes had leaked gas underneath the mobile home, it could have seriously endangered people's lives. It was extremely fortunate the poor workmanship was discovered before it was too late."

Worried residents at the mobile home site in Breach Barns in Galley Hill, Waltham Abbey contacted the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) in early 2009 after discovering unsafe fittings on cylinders of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) used for heating and cooking.
Sines Parks Ltd, which owns and runs the park, had previously commissioned Mr O'Sullivan to carry out work on various gas fittings and pipes at the site.
Mr O'Sullivan was not registered to work on gas equipment and his work was found to be unsafe by HSE gas specialists investigating the complaints. HSE issued the self-employed plumber with an immediate prohibition notice, banning him from carrying out any further gas work until he was qualified and registered. HSE also warned all residents about his work.
At court today, Michael O'Sullivan, of Tillingham Court, Winter Way, Waltham Abbey, admitted breaching Section 3(2) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and Regulation 3(1) of the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998.
Sines Parks Ltd, of College Road, Harrow, admitted breaching Regulation 4 of the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998. The company had a duty to check that Mr O'Sullivan was registered.
The company owns 13 parks in the region. Residents own their own mobile home but Sines Parks Ltd retains ownership of the land and manages the utilities.
Inspector Steve Hook added:
"There is a reason the HSE operates the Gas Safe Register - working with gas appliances is difficult, specialised and potentially dangerous. Getting it wrong can cost lives.
"It is illegal for an unregistered person to carry out such work. When unqualified workers try to bypass the law in this way they are not only putting themselves at risk of prosecution and a large fine, they are also putting people's lives at risk.
"Companies also have a legal obligation to ensure anyone commissioned to work on gas equipment is legally qualified to do the job. It is easy to check if someone is registered with the Gas Safe Register and there is no excuse for failing to make that check."

Yes we have a duty under the GIUSP to issue warning notices, but our members also feel a moral duty to the customers in their care to create a level playing field, quite obviously putting right one property on a 100 unit site where all the other units have a lack of skirt ventilation isn't going to increase the safety of that site very much. Nationwide the numbers of non-compliant installations would be staggering based on OPGO members findings
Having highlighted this problem to the industry, including the HSE we would also feel a moral duty in the event of an incident involving skirt ventilation to publicise the fact when where and how it was brought to that industries attention.

OPGO members suggest, to at least get some action on this issue, that our industry should work with the insurance industry and point out to site owners and caravan/RPH owners that not only do they have a duty of care to other site owners (whereby, as in the report above, they could face prosecution in the event of an incident), but that if an incident occurred their insurance may be invalid if the skirt ventilation doesn't comply with our industry's requirements.

I look forward to your normal speedy reply.

Regards,

Barry Matthews