Is your business or home ready for Gas Safety Week 2019?

Taking place from September 16 th to 22 nd , Gas Safety Week 2019 is a national campaign organised by Gas Safe Register, with the aim of spreading the message regarding the dangers of poorly installed and/or maintained gas appliances. These appliances can quite literally kill; if left unchecked they can cause gas leaks and explosions, and emit potentially deadly carbon monoxide (CO).

Last year’s campaign saw thousands of UK organisations in the gas industry joining forces to help protect their customers and save lives. If your business hasn’t signed up to Gas Safety Week 2019 yet, what are you waiting for?

By pledging your support, your business will benefit from:

• The knowledge that your business is being socially responsible – raising awareness and protecting your customers
• Free toolkit of information materials you can pass on to customers and use on your own website and/or social media platforms. This includes articles, images, social media updates and web banners
• Improved brand awareness – everyone who takes part in Gas Safety Week 2019 is included on the Gas Safe Register website

There are lots of different ways your business can make a difference. For example, you could organise a talk at your local school, give away CO alarms, devise quizzes for your staff, nominate a Gas Hero – even change your answerphone message to give out key messages regarding the dangers of CO. You can do as little or as much as you want – just get involved!

It is all too easy to put checks off – life is busy, it all costs money and things get forgotten. However, Gas Safety Week 2019 is here to highlight the risks of doing just that. The frightening fact is that 1 in 5 homes inspected by Gas Safe Register in the East of England has unsafe gas appliances installed.

In our local area alone (Pitsea, North Benfleet, Bowers Gifford etc), engineers found 77 unsafe boilers, 42 unsafe cookers and five unsafe fires. Any of these could cause significant harm or even death if they hadn’t been repaired or replaced.

As homeowners or landlords, we all have a responsibility to ourselves, our families or tenants to ensure that any gas appliances are in full working order. Unsafe appliances can put everyone – even neighbours – at risk.

Gas Safety Week 2019 shares three very simple tips you should follow to make sure you remain safe:

1. Check your gas appliances every year
2. Ensure that your chosen engineer is Gas Safe registered
3. Check the engineer’s Gas Safe ID card to verify they are fully qualified and experienced

Join the thousands of other businesses taking part and pledge your support for Gas Safety Week 2019. We are!