Problem is "No knowledge is more dangerous than none". People don't walk on cliff edges because the knowledge of what can happen if they fall off.
Nobody is advocating that a person does a drop test if they are not competent, just that they should know what is required to do one and what the standard tests are.
Often as I have said earlier people don't always smell gas and Transco out. Anyway all Transco will do, is shut off the gas and seal the supply if its not on their side of the meter. What happens to the internal pipework is then up to the landlord or the house holder not Transco.
Surely telling people how a drop test should be done, is safer than perhaps letting them have a go themselves without knowing any safety test standards, that is of course if they decide to do it themselves?
Lets be honest, if people decide they want to do the work themselves Transco or anybody else is not likely to stop them before they do, they simply will not tell anybody, just go ahead and do it.
If they do that, then I for one prefer, they have some knowledge of whats involved in doing the job than none at all. I am not advocating they do it, just that they know what is involved especially from a safety point of view.
I simply don't understand you guys, why you seem so secretive about gas fitting safety procedures.
What does a person say if the house blows up from some job they thought they where doing right, but they had no idea about the safety tests involved, so did not do any.
I am very sorry I can't stop people doing dodgy work, but perhaps I can make them aware of the safety angle before they do it. And knowing what is involved in a drop test and other gas testing is certainly a safety point.
Another aspect is. What if you call a local gas company and they are cowboys, plenty on the telly. How do you know as the customer whether they have done a good job or not if you have no idea what the safety test should be?
How many cowboy builders are shown on the telly.
How many householders paid over money for bad work?
Would they have done so if they had known how the job should be done.
How many people come on the forum moaning about work done in their homes and whether its up to standard or not, because they don't know anything about the standards required.
Bit late then I feel?
What they come on the forum for is to find out if the work is okay. And we usually tell them if it is.
Please don't assume everybody who knows what is what about gas is immediately going out to start a business.
I have been on course, where the gas engineer giving the course has said he would not register himself. In other words he teaches it he doesn't do it.
How many training agency instructors are Gas Safe registered?
They don't have to be, for its only when you physically break a gas train in the pursuit of reward do you need to be registered, but you have to be competent to do so otherwise.
Having gas knowledge is not a crime. But it sure helps you decide whether the work your having done is up to standard or not. And yes I suppose helps you decide whether you are getting value for money off the gas fitter. So I for one feel that if a customer knows that their gas safety checks have been done properly it goes some way to reassuring them it should be okay.
Seems to me that sometimes people seem afraid to tell their customers what they are doing in their homes. I have always had a good response when telling customers what I am doing and why. In point it sometimes seems to have led to more work not less.
