With recent rulings outlining that all engineers working on central heating boilers or space heaters must own a CPA1 qualification, it’s extremely important for the industry to let the Gas Safe Register (GSR) know of any illegal work being carried out.

The new rulings on CPA1 (Combustion Performance Analysis) officially came into effect on 1st April 2012, meaning that anyone who hasn’t taken the exam and gained a CPA1 qualification is now currently unqualified to be carrying out installation work.

The decision to make all engineers completing installation work carry out the CPA1 reason came about as research by the Gas Safe Register found that extra steps needed to be taken to ensure that improved safety is always given to consumers by qualified professionals.

As this industry is built on extensive safety due to the potentially volatile components being worked with, it is absolutely imperative that the Gas Safe Register knows about those who may be carrying out work without qualifications, as it’s particularly worrying to think that unqualified engineers may be working on installations while qualified gas engineers who pride themselves on their high-quality work are not.

According to figures by the GSR, over a quarter of a million illegal gas jobs are carried out each year.  If you know of anyone who might not have the right qualifications who you’ve been told about by a customer who’s had a bad job done or heard about anywhere else you should immediately report them to the GSR.

Scott Daroch, PR manager of the Gas Safe Register said:

"In many ways the questions around CPA1 are just part of the broader approach we take to ensuring the gas regulations are enforced: if you don’t have the specific qualification you need to carry out work then you are not working legally.

"Whether an engineer holds the right qualification to undertake work is also part of our inspection process – when we encounter work that can only have been carried out by someone holding CPA1 then we check if they hold it. If they don’t have it then we check the safe operation of the appliance and issue a defect notice just as we would in any case of someone working out of scope.

"We have also done quite a lot of work to make sure engineers are aware of the need to hold CPA1 if they are carrying out work on boilers or fires. Since 2010, Gas Safe Register has been communicating with engineers through direct mail, the website and the magazine, about the requirements to hold CPA1 assessment. As a result, the overwhelming majority of engineers have been updating their CPA1 qualifications over the last two years.

As with any gas safety area, if an engineer encounters work which they think is unsafe or is illegal we encourage them to contact us."

You can report any illegal activity by visiting the Gas Safe Register’s report form.