July 06, 2010
A Hertfordshire gas fitter has been fined more than £2,000 after illegal fittings and outdated qualifications lead to an elderly couple being poisoned by carbon monoxide.
Dermot Healey trading as D Healy Plumbing and Heating, was accused of breaching several health and safety regulations after City of London Magistrates heard how the couple’s gas heater their home in Penhurst Gardens, Edgware, was poorly serviced in 2007.
The 40-year-old heater, which had been condemned more than a decade earlier, began pumping carbon monoxide gas into the couple’s home, causing them to slip into unconsciousness while sitting on the sofa plus feelings of nausea and dizziness.
Mr Healy, a gas-installer by trade, was asked to re-commission the unit and undertake annual service checks, but Magistrates heard how a British Gas investigation found the air unit cupboard containing the heater had insufficient ventilation, forcing the poisonous gas into the system.
Further research by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) revealed that Mr Healy had held a CORGI registration from February 2001. This was not renewed when it expired in March 2005 and he had never received any refresher training.
According to the HSE, by working without the necessary registration, safety checks and documentation, he exposed clients to a serious health and safety risk.
“Mr Healy was paid by his clients to carry out an annual servicing of an old, deteriorating boiler only 14 days before they were taken to hospital with acute carbon monoxide poisoning,” commented HSE Inspector Charles Linfoot.
“He acted illegally in that he was an un-registered gas engineer and carrying out work he was not qualified to do. The couple in this instance were lucky, but the outcome could so easily have been a tragic one.
Mr Healy pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 3(3) of the Gas Safety (Installation amp; Use) Regulations 1998 at two separated addresses. He was also prosecuted under Section 3(2) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and fined £500 with costs of £1,500.
