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FOLLOWING THE SENTENCING of a boiler installer for manslaughter, the organisation which represents the domestic oil heating and cooking industry in Ireland has urged customers to be vigilant about using registered gas fitters.
Brown who pleaded guilty to manslaughter by gross negligence of two school friends has been sentenced to four years in prison, with two years suspended.
George Brown was also fined £19,000 at Belfast Magistrates Court today.
Tragic incident
OFTEC Ireland Manager, David Blevings today issued important advice for householders to prevent tragic incidents like this happening again, stating:
It was clear from this devastating case, that the very sad and untimely deaths of Neil and Aaron may have been prevented if the installation of the boiler had been carried out by a fully qualified and competence technician.
He said “the best way to protect yourself from incidents like this is to make sure that any fuel burning appliance, whether it runs on gas, as was the case in Castlerock, oil or solid fuel, is installed by a fully registered installer”.
Customers
Blevings said they should also be serviced regularly by a registered technician – for oil consumers, this is an OFTEC Registered Technician as they carry a flue gas analyser that can specifically check for carbon monoxide spillage.
The sentencing of George Brown followed a large and complex two year investigation by the Health and Safety Executive for Northern Ireland (HSENI) and the Police Service of Northern Ireland’s Criminal Investigation Department.
The judge found Brown to have carried overall responsibility for the deaths of the two teenagers, explaining he was guilty of deploying workmen on boiler installation jobs who were not adequately qualified or trained to carry them out.
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Can anyone tell me why can any person walk into a store and buy an appliance that needs to be fitted by a registered installer? Surely if there was RGII registration number necessary at the point of purchase for any appliance or spare parts it would help prevent such incidents.
If it ever comes to that I’ll just buy the stuff online from wherever its made. What you propose is a nanny state law
Nanny-state laws aren’t necessarily bad things – not many people complain about the control of other lethal goods, such as guns in this country, for example.
Gun laws are ridiculously strict here and should be relaxed. Soon all you’ll be allowed to do in this country is sit on your hole watching telly.
Ok here goes… Did a gas fitters course 8 years ago, will not mention where , after 8 or so weeks I was more than capable of testing and fitting a boiler but was having a little trouble with the electrical side of it ( was not instructed properly on electrics) exam time, passed with flying colours… I would not have passed me, needless to say i didn’t dare fit or have anything to do with gas boilers…. The more people who passed, the better the instructors were thought off…. And I was above average on the course.
Dave. You sound to be an honest man who doesn’t do things he feels to be wrong. Fair play to you and I hope things improved after that so-called course.
Well Anne i went back to college and did horticulture ( couldn’t kill anyone there ) but now own my own gallery. Found my calling , so to speak.
Always like to see someone follow a dream. Congrats – and you’re never getting near my boiler :-)
Had my boiler serviced by somebody recommended by Bord Gais. Thankfully it ws summer and we slept with the windows open because he left a gas leak behind him. In future I’ll go with recommendations from people I know, not people I pay!
What a shame the author of this article wasn’t aware of the roi registration for gas installers. Its rgii, register is at http://www.rgii.ie
As far as I know your insurance policy will not cover you if your gas appliances aren’t installed by a registered engineer.
I would advise anyone wanting to hang a picture on the wall to employ the services of a qualified nail hitter. Visit http://qnh.ie to find your nearest one
Clown , no harm if you got piosened by CO!!
Bit of a silly comment there, Just4.
Unfortunately our initial experiment (Electrical) undermined the integrity of such registrations by registering the companies where the money was and not licensing the individual tradesmen.
Result was a company (often not electrical ie small builder, plumber, sole trader etc) could hire who they liked to do the works. In the unlikely event a botched job was detected the company would get the qualified staff to sort out the deficiencies and blames the incompetent staff for misleading them.
In the UK individual tradesmen are licenced, do a botch job and you lose your registration and licence. Continue to do botched work and face prosecution.
Its a legal requirement to be a registered gas installer before you undertake work on a gas appliance or installation. There’s no such requirement for working on an oil appliance or installation…which I find a bit odd.
Here in Spain a few years ago there were gas explosions like one a week nearly all caused by butane water heaters but the new legislation that obligated every registered fitter to undertake the relevant courses has curbed all that and also that the manufacturers don’t cover the warranty if there is no receipt or invoice from a qualified fitter.
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