The lead in period allowing businesses and engineers 12 months to update their procedures in line with Edition 7 of the Gas Industry Unsafe Situations Procedure (GIUSP) is soon to expire.
As from 1 July 2016, Gas Safe registered engineers and businesses will be inspected in line with the new edition of the guidelines, but are encouraged to adopt the revised procedure as soon as possible.
GIUSP Edition 7 came into force last year, and provides up-to-date, comprehensive guidance to Gas Safe Registered engineers for dealing with unsafe situations in domestic and non-domestic premises supplied with gas (natural or LPG).
Significant changes
It is important that installers are aware of the changes under the guidelines, as some are quite significant:
- The NCS (Not to Current Standards) category has been removed.
- In certain circumstances, turning off the gas to an At Risk (AR) installation won’t remove the risk or danger. They now have their own amended procedure engineers must follow.
- The GIUSP no longer lists installations that are RIDDOR reportable. However, you are still required to notify under 11(1) or 11(2) or RIDDOR.
- A ‘Danger Do Not Use’ warning label has been introduced.
“Danger Do Not Use”
The new guidelines have introduced a “Danger Do Not Use” warning label which must be attached to any appliance that is “At Risk” (AR) or “Immediately Dangerous” (ID).
Although there is one message for the gas user for ID and AR situations, the actions that should be undertaken by you (the engineer) remains the same.
The new warning label will deliver a single message to the customer, making it clear that risky appliances must not be used.
More information
For gas engineers who wish to keep information about the guidelines to hand, the 7th Edition of the Gas Safety Book provides a guide to unsafe situations alongside essential information to ensure customer safety and compliance with GIUSP. You can order it here.
A free copy of GIUSP Edition 7.1 can be downloaded from http://www.gassaferegister.co.uk/advice/unsafe_situations.
All of our gas training manuals have been updated in-line with the changes. Centres can find out more, here.