Northern Ireland gas engineers fined following illegal gas work

Two Northern Ireland gas engineers have been fined after one had sub-contracted the other to carry out gas safety checks without checking that he was registered and in spite of the fact that the contractor had been prohibited from working with gas.

David Horner, trading as EDH Plumbing, and Ian Campbell, trading as Ian Campbell Gas Services, were fined at Belfast Magistrates Court for breaching gas safety regulations. Mr Horner was also fined for failing to comply with an earlier prohibition notice.

The HSENI investigation found that Mr Horner had been carrying out gas work despite being suspended by Gas Safe Register. Between February 2017 and October 2017, he completed multiple gas safety checks and a gas boiler installation at various residential properties in the Greater Belfast area.

The investigation also found that he was working despite having been banned from carrying out such work following a prohibition notice in June 2017 by an HSENI inspector.

A total of 34 gas safety checks were sub-contracted to him by Ian Campbell, who had initially failed to check and ensure that David Horner was registered before any work started.

David Horner from Belfast was fined £2,500 for breaches of the Health and Safety at Work (Northern Ireland) Order 1978 and the Health and Safety at Work (Northern Ireland) Order 1978.

Ian Campbell from Bangor, County Down, was fined £1,500 for breaches of the Health and Safety at Work (Northern Ireland) Order 1978 and the Health and Safety at Work (Northern Ireland) Order 1978.

Speaking after the hearing, Gavin Rowan, an inspector with HSENI’s Major Investigation Team, said: “Conducting gas work without being registered to do so is not only a failure to comply with gas safety regulations, it unnecessarily places homeowners, tenants and others at significant risk from gas installations that may not have been properly maintained or inspected.”