DC151-Gas Safety and Compliance Policy

Registration Number: {{org_field_registration_no}}

Gas Safety and Compliance Policy

1. Purpose

The purpose of this policy is to ensure that our domiciliary care organisation upholds the highest standards of gas safety for service users, staff, and any individuals present in their homes. Safe gas use is critical for preventing accidents such as gas leaks, carbon monoxide poisoning, and explosions. {{org_field_name}} is committed to adhering to all relevant legal and regulatory requirements while implementing robust gas safety measures.

This policy outlines the procedures for gas appliance checks, emergency response, staff responsibilities, and compliance monitoring to ensure a safe living environment for all service users.

2. Scope

This policy applies to:

All domiciliary care staff, including care workers, management, and support staff.
Service users receiving care in their homes.
Contractors and maintenance personnel involved in gas appliance inspections or repairs.
External agencies working in collaboration with {{org_field_name}}.

3. Legal and Regulatory Framework

This policy is implemented in line with the legal and regulatory framework applicable in England, including:

Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 – places general duties on employers to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare of employees and others affected by the service.
Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 – require suitable and sufficient assessment of workplace and work activity risks, including risks arising when staff work in service users’ homes.
Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 – govern gas installation, maintenance, servicing and gas safety checks, including landlord duties for rented accommodation and duties on employers and self-employed persons in relation to gas fittings and gas appliances.
Health and Social Care Act 2008 and the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014, in particular:
- Regulation 12: Safe care and treatment
- Regulation 17: Good governance
- Regulation 18: Staffing
- Regulation 20: Duty of candour
Care Quality Commission (Registration) Regulations 2009, including Regulation 18: Notification of other incidents, where relevant thresholds are met.
Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013 (RIDDOR) – where a gas-related event is work-related and reportable.
Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm (England) Regulations 2015, as amended by the Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm (Amendment) Regulations 2022 – relevant where the service user lives in accommodation to which those landlord duties apply.
UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018 – for lawful handling, retention and sharing of gas safety records, risk assessments, incident reports and safeguarding information.

This policy is also informed by current Care Quality Commission guidance for providers and managers, especially the guidance on safe care and treatment, staffing, good governance, duty of candour and statutory notifications.

4. Gas Safety Responsibilities

{{org_field_name}} recognises that, in domiciliary care, primary responsibility for the maintenance, servicing and legal gas safety compliance of domestic gas appliances usually rests with the homeowner, landlord, managing agent or other person responsible for the premises. However, the organisation remains responsible for assessing and managing any risks arising from the home environment that may affect the safe delivery of care, the safety of service users, and the safety of staff.

Registered Manager / Nominated Lead

Must ensure that the service has effective systems to identify, assess, monitor and mitigate gas-related risks that may affect care delivery.
Must ensure staff are trained and competent to recognise warning signs of gas leaks, carbon monoxide exposure and unsafe appliances, and understand the required escalation procedures.
Must ensure that identified gas risks are recorded, acted upon, reviewed and escalated appropriately, including liaison with landlords, family members, local authorities, safeguarding teams, commissioners or emergency services where necessary.
Must ensure appropriate records are maintained of risk assessments, concerns raised, actions taken, referrals made and outcomes.
Must consider whether any gas-related incident triggers safeguarding action, CQC notification, duty of candour obligations, RIDDOR reporting or commissioning notifications.

Care Workers and Other Frontline Staff

Must remain alert to signs of gas leaks, carbon monoxide risk, poor ventilation, damaged appliances, missing or defective alarms, and any home condition that could make care unsafe.
Must report concerns immediately in line with the organisation’s incident reporting and escalation procedures.
Must not attempt repairs to gas appliances or interfere with gas installations.
Must, where safe and appropriate, support the service user to seek help from the landlord, managing agent, family member, Gas Safe registered engineer or emergency gas service.
Must follow emergency procedures without delay if they suspect a gas leak or carbon monoxide incident.

Service Users, Families and Representatives

Are encouraged to tell the organisation about any concerns relating to gas appliances, heating systems, flues, ventilation or alarms in the home.
Should, where they are responsible for the premises, ensure that gas appliances and flues are maintained appropriately and that legal duties relating to rented accommodation are met.
Should cooperate with reasonable risk management measures necessary to keep care safe.

Landlords / Housing Providers / Managing Agents
Where the service user lives in rented accommodation, the landlord or other responsible housing provider remains responsible for complying with applicable gas safety and alarm legislation.

Qualified Gas Engineers

Any inspection, servicing, repair or safety check of a gas appliance or installation must be carried out only by a suitably competent Gas Safe registered engineer where the law requires this.
Landlord gas safety checks must be evidenced by an appropriate landlord gas safety record; the term “CP12” may be used informally, but the legal requirement is for the landlord gas safety record.

5. Gas Appliance Safety, Checks and Environmental Risk Management

{{org_field_name}} does not assume blanket responsibility for the servicing, certification or maintenance of domestic gas appliances in service users’ homes unless it is also the person legally responsible for the premises. However, the organisation must assess whether the home environment presents any actual or potential gas-related risk that could affect the safe provision of care.

5.1 General approach

Before care starts, and during ongoing review, the service will consider whether there are environmental risks linked to gas appliances, heating systems, cookers, flues, boiler cupboards, ventilation or possible carbon monoxide exposure.
Where concerns are identified, these must be documented in the environmental or home risk assessment and, where relevant, reflected in the service user’s care plan and staff guidance.
The organisation will take reasonably practicable steps to reduce or manage identified risks affecting care delivery.

5.2 Rented accommodation

Where a service user lives in rented accommodation, the landlord or other responsible housing provider is normally responsible for legal gas safety compliance, including annual landlord gas safety checks where required by law.
Staff should, where concerns arise, request that the service user, representative, landlord or managing agent provides evidence that concerns have been addressed.
Any landlord gas safety record provided should be copied or noted on the service file where relevant to risk management.

5.3 Owner-occupied accommodation

Where a service user owns their home, the organisation should encourage appropriate servicing and safety checks if there are concerns about the condition, age, safety or operation of a gas appliance or heating system.
If the provider believes the home environment presents a serious risk to the person using the service or to staff, the concern must be escalated without delay and the safety of continued care delivery reviewed.

5.4 Repairs and unsafe appliances

Staff must never attempt to repair, isolate, adjust or test gas appliances unless they are properly qualified and legally permitted to do so.
If an appliance appears unsafe, staff must stop using it if safe to do so, follow the emergency or escalation procedure, and ensure the concern is reported and recorded immediately.
Any remedial work must be undertaken by an appropriately qualified Gas Safe registered engineer where required.

5.5 Carbon monoxide alarms

The organisation will promote the presence and use of suitable carbon monoxide alarms where gas or other combustion appliances create a foreseeable risk.
In rented homes, staff should be aware that landlord duties in England require a carbon monoxide alarm in rooms used as living accommodation containing a fixed combustion appliance, excluding gas cookers.
Staff must report missing, non-functioning or damaged alarms where identified during care delivery and escalate in line with this policy.

5.6 Documentation

All identified gas-related hazards, advice given, referrals made, assurances received and follow-up actions must be documented clearly and reviewed until resolved or risk reduced to an acceptable level.

6. Emergency Procedures

In the event of a suspected gas leak, carbon monoxide exposure, or discovery of an unsafe gas appliance, the safety of the service user, staff and others present must take immediate priority.

Immediate action

Do not use electrical switches, plugs, doorbells, naked flames, matches or lighters.
If safe to do so, open doors and windows for ventilation.
If safe and known, turn off the gas supply at the emergency control valve.
Remove all persons from the affected area or property without delay.
Call the National Gas Emergency Service on 0800 111 999.
If anyone is unwell, unconscious, confused, experiencing breathing difficulty, chest pain, collapse, or symptoms consistent with carbon monoxide poisoning, call 999 and seek urgent medical help immediately.

Internal escalation

Notify the line manager or on-call manager immediately.
Record the incident as soon as practicable in the organisation’s incident reporting system.
Where care cannot be delivered safely, the organisation must review whether the visit can continue, whether alternative arrangements are needed, and whether staff should withdraw pending safety confirmation.

Post-incident action

No person must re-enter or resume use of affected appliances until the property or appliance has been declared safe by the emergency gas service or a qualified Gas Safe registered engineer, as appropriate.
Management must review whether a safeguarding referral, commissioner notification, landlord notification, CQC statutory notification, RIDDOR report or other external escalation is required.
Where the incident meets the threshold for a notifiable safety incident, the duty of candour procedure must be followed.
Lessons learned from the incident must be recorded, reviewed and fed back into risk assessments, staff guidance and service improvement processes.

7. Staff Training, Competence and Awareness

{{org_field_name}} will ensure that staff receive appropriate induction, training, supervision and competency support in relation to gas-related environmental risks relevant to their role.

Training and competency arrangements will include:

recognition of signs of gas leaks, carbon monoxide exposure and unsafe gas appliances;
understanding the limits of staff responsibility and the prohibition on attempting gas repairs or technical interventions;
emergency action to be taken in the event of suspected gas escape or carbon monoxide exposure;
reporting, escalation, safeguarding and documentation requirements;
application of environmental and service-user-specific risk assessments;
speaking up and escalating concerns where the home environment may make care unsafe.

Training must be refreshed at appropriate intervals and sooner where incidents, learning reviews, audits, changes in law or identified competency concerns indicate that additional support is needed.

Competence in applying this policy will be monitored through supervision, spot checks, incident review, audits and appraisal.

8. Risk Assessment and Service User Support

Gas-related environmental risks must be considered as part of the service user’s initial assessment and ongoing review where relevant to the safe provision of care.

This includes consideration of:

whether staff will use or work near gas appliances, boilers, cookers, heaters or areas with poor ventilation;
whether the service user has symptoms, behaviours, communication needs or cognitive impairment that may reduce their ability to recognise or report danger;
whether there is evidence of disrepair, poor ventilation, damaged flues, soot, staining, repeated pilot-light failure, unusual odours or concerns about appliance operation;
whether alarms are present and whether any concerns have been identified about their condition;
whether risks to staff or the service user require changes to the way care is delivered.

Where a gas-related risk is identified:

the concern must be recorded in the environmental risk assessment;
any actions required must be reflected in the care plan and staff instructions;
responsibility for each action, escalation route and review date must be clearly assigned;
where necessary, the organisation must liaise with the service user, representative, landlord, managing agent, local authority, safeguarding team, health professional or emergency service.

If a serious gas safety concern remains unresolved and the environment cannot be made sufficiently safe, {{org_field_name}} will review whether the care package can continue safely and what interim control measures or alternative arrangements are required.

9. Monitoring, Compliance, Governance and Continuous Improvement

{{org_field_name}} will maintain effective governance arrangements to assess, monitor and improve compliance with this policy and the safe management of gas-related environmental risks.

This will include:

audit of environmental risk assessments and care plans where gas-related concerns have been identified;
review of incident reports, near misses, emergency call-outs, safeguarding concerns and complaints relating to gas safety;
review of whether staff followed escalation procedures, documentation requirements and emergency response expectations;
oversight by the Registered Manager or delegated lead of outstanding actions, referrals and unresolved risks;
maintenance of accurate, complete and contemporaneous records;
use of lessons learned to improve practice, training, documentation and care planning.

Audits should be aligned to relevant legal and regulatory requirements, particularly safe care and treatment, staffing, good governance, duty of candour and statutory notifications.

10. Policy Review and Updates

This policy is reviewed annually or sooner if new legal requirements or safety concerns arise. All updates are communicated to staff and service users to ensure continued compliance.

11. Conclusion

By implementing this Gas Safety and Compliance Policy, our domiciliary care organisation ensures that all service users live in a safe environment where gas-related risks are minimised. Through strict adherence to legal requirements, staff training, proactive risk management, and emergency preparedness, we uphold our commitment to safeguarding those under our care and providing a secure, compliant service.

Responsible Person: {{org_field_registered_manager_first_name}} {{org_field_registered_manager_last_name}}
Reviewed on: {{last_update_date}}
Next Review Date: {{next_review_date}}
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