What are sanctions and when does the Register apply them?

When you register or renew your registration, you are agreeing to comply with Gas Safe Register’s Rules of Registration and all its supporting policies and guidance. Failure to comply with the rules may result in sanctions being applied, in accordance with the Sanctions Policy.

This outlines the sanctions that Gas Safe Register can apply against any registered business and/or engineer, where there is justification. It is designed to be fair but corrective and not punitive, so that the registration scheme robustly and proportionately manages the registration of businesses and engineers.

To whom can Gas Safe Register apply sanctions?

Gas Safe Register reserves the right to impose sanctions on any registered business and/or individual engineer where there has been a breach of the rules or policies. You are agreeing to comply with these rules and policies through the act of registering.

Will I be informed of any sanction placed on my business or me as an engineer?

Yes. Gas Safe Register will communicate with all those involved, using your preferred method of communication as listed on your registration record.

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If it has not been possible to reach you, the Register will use an alternative method of communication for this purpose.

You will be advised of any impending or applied sanctions and the effective date from which they will be applied, so it is essential that your business contact details are up to date. This avoids the risk of you undertaking gas work illegally.

What if the engineer being sanctioned is registered with more than one business?

Where an engineer is registered against multiple registrations, all the businesses with which they are registered will be informed about any sanction applied against them: for example, removal or suspension from the Register or any other sanction considered appropriate.

How can sanctions be lifted?

Where sanctions are applied, Gas Safe Register will provide guidance to the business and/or engineer explaining the criteria that will need to be satisfied to enable any applied sanctions to be lifted. These criteria may include:

• The demonstration of competence through inspection

• Demonstration that adequate management of gas work provisions are in effect

• The provision of auditable evidence to support that any additional specified training or reassessment has been successfully undertaken prior to any application to reinstate the registration.

Can I appeal against a sanction?

Yes. The appeal process is covered within the communication sent to the business and/or engineer notifying them of the sanction being applied. A copy of the Appeal Policy is incorporated in the Sanctions Policy and explains the process in detail.

What is the range of sanctions

Gas Safe Register can apply? Managing registration robustly through the application of sanctions supports public safety and confidence. It also provides a supportive framework to ensure that registered businesses and engineers deliver gas safety to their customers. Therefore, a range of sanctions is available, which includes:

• Removal from the Register

• Suspension from either the Register or, where appropriate, specific work categories

• Fixed-term suspension of businesses or engineers from the Register

• Mandatory attendance and participation at a theory-based inspection event

• Tightened inspection regime

• Special conditions

• Application of a penalty fee.

The following are examples of circumstances that may lead to specific sanctions:

Removal from the Register

• Unsafe gas work or non-compliance with the rules of registration or policies, where all other available options to demonstrate compliance have been exhausted

• Criminal prosecution resulting in the imposition of a custodial or suspended sentence for any gas-related health and safety offence after 1 January 2017

• Bringing the Register into disrepute (see Registration Policy for examples of what may constitute disrepute)

• Failure to comply with the requirements of any sanction applied

• Aggressive behaviour towards Gas Safe Register staff.

Suspension from the Register

• Failure to demonstrate or apply gas safety competence

• Working outside the scope of work categories of registration

• Failure to rectify defects identified via a Defect or Building Regulation Non-Compliance Notice

• Failure to allow inspection

• Service of a ‘Notice of Contravention’, Improvement or Prohibition Notice, or prosecution by HSE

• Formal agency, eg, Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA), notification of an engineer representing a present danger to the public

• Failure to attend any investigations when requested, following concerns raised about the gas work carried out.

Fixed-term suspension

• Bringing the Register into disrepute

• Commissioning gas work carried that has been knowingly carried out by non-registered person(s)

• Repeatedly using unregistered contractors to undertake gas work on your behalf

• Completion of documentation fraudulently, including Building Regulation notifications or commissioning documentation

• Criminal prosecutions that impact on the reputation of the Register

• Fraudulent use of a registered business’s details

• Working out of scope of work categories/competence

• Using employees who do not have the right to work in the UK.

Tightened inspection mode

• Evidence of not adequately carrying out or managing gas work safely

• Following the unsuccessful outcome of a theory-based mandatory attendance event

• Following an investigation where justified gas safety-related issues are found

• Justified gas safety-related concerns have been received

• Gas work defects.

Application of penalty fee

• Late renewal of registration due to late payment of the renewal fees, or

• Not holding valid certificates of gas safety competence at the time of registration or renewal.

Special conditions

• Where a business successfully re-applies for registration but has any history of failure in its delivery of gas safety or operating in accordance with the rules of registration

You can find the Sanctions policy at: www.GasSafeRegister.co. uk/about-us/our-policies/

• In any other circumstance where Gas Safe Register justifiably decides that special conditions are required to support gas safety or compliance with the Rules of Registration.