In light of regulatory judgements for organisations who have found issues with gas servicing compliance, we look at how to get gas servicing right.
Here we revisit our top five tips for gas compliance:
1. Own your data
Make sure you have you have a single source of data that is linked to your property and asset data. This allows accurate record keeping and will help you to keep track of acquisitions, disposals and changes in ownership or responsibility.
2. Location, location, location
Where do you keep your certification? It’s vital that you retain copies of all of your Landlords Gas Safety Records (the service certificates) for at least two years. They need to be kept in good order so you can find a copy again if you need it.
3. Does your contractor know what to do and when?
It sounds obvious, but make sure your contractors have the same information as you do. Refresh their data regularly to make sure they know what they need to service and when.
4. Process, process, process
You’ll need a policy on gas servicing but you also need detailed procedures that describe how you manage your programme and how you gain entry to any properties where access is a problem. And you need to work to the procedures you set out. If they are not working for you then they probably need a review.
5. Get some reassurance that all is well
You’ll be reporting Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) around how well things are going but it’s important to look behind these to ensure systems and processes are working as they should and that nothing has fallen off the radar.
There are many ways to do this and internal reconciliation and audit should be the first port of call. Having said this, external validation and audit is good to provide a fresh and independent view of the service.
Please do get in touch with our team if you have any questions or need advice on your gas servicing compliance.