Posted By John T Holden
I work in a setting where there are 4 self contained supported living flats with an office on the first floor. A few days ago we had a Landlords Gas Safety inspection and it is believed the inspecting engineer introduced a gas leak, possibly by leaving off a test point closure on one of the boilers. Fortunately the flat concerned is temporarily vacant. The leak was only discovered when, after having slept in the office as the "on-call" staff Friday night, I entered the flat on Saturday to discover it was cold and damp and turned up the thermostat. An hour or so later, by chance, I went back in and smelt gas and phoned the emergency number. Had I turned the heating on the previous evening the consequences could have been disastrous. Now my manager is trying to convince me that this does not need to be reported as it was not a major gas leak - I say it needs to be reported because it was a faulty gas appliance. Advice/comments please.
John H, Tech IOSH, Bristol

Posted By TDsafety
If you have a look at the HSE web site you may find an answer. Also, the rporting form is slightly different than a 'normal' accident. It is the F2508(G).

Posted By Juan Carlos Arias
I think you are right. this is what riddor says with reference to gas incidents.

"If you are an installer of gas appliances registered with the Council for Registered Installers (CORGI), you must provide details of any gas appliances or fittings that you consider to be dangerous, to such an extent that people could die or suffer a 'major injury', because the design, construction, installation, modification or servicing could result in:

(a) an accidental leakage of gas;
(b) inadequate combustion of gas or ;
(c) inadequate removal of products of the combustion of gas."

Posted By Brenda H
We've just had a very similar situation where a valve leaked because of a loose nut!

Following the investigation we could not find any actual fault with the valve/nut itself or reason for it being loose and had to conclude that it became loose following other work which was being carried out in the vicinity of the boiler and caused the nut to work loose.

Some people read the RIDDOR description of 'any gas appliances or fittings that you consider to be dangerous' as those that are 'faulty'.

In our case they were faulty, however due to the circumstances the leak could have lead to death or a major injury.

The HSE followed up with us and wanted to see our investigation and were quite happy with our conclusions.

I don't think there's anything to hide with these incidents as long as they are investigated and lessons learnt can be demonstrated.