Although dangerous incidents involving gas appliances are rare, they do happen, so it is vitally important that anyone who has a gas appliance in their home should understand the gas safety rules and be vigilant about upholding them.

Carbon Monoxide, which can be produced by incorrectly installed or poorly maintained gas appliance, can make you extremely ill or even kill you before you realise it. Make sure that you have installed an audible Carbon monoxide alarm in every room that has a gas appliance in it, and check them regularly.

All the gas appliances in your home should be installed, repaired, serviced, and regularly checked by a Gas Safe registered engineer. If someone is coming round to install, repair, or service a gas appliance, such as a gas boiler, fire, cooker, central heating system, or radiator, make sure that you see their Gas Safe Register ID card before you allow them to carry out any work.

Although you may feel awkward about asking them, any qualified engineer will be proud to display their credentials, and you should never let someone who is unqualified work on your appliances, as it is your life, and those of your housemates or family members that is at stake.

A Gas Safe Register ID card features a photo of the engineer, a description of their credentials and qualifications, and a licence number that you can check against a register to ensure that their licence is genuine and up to date.

Under no circumstances allow anyone to carry out work on the gas appliances in your home until you are absolutely sure of their credentials. If you are in any doubt about the credentials of your engineer, call 0800 408 5500 and quote the licence number given by your engineer's ID card to check whether their license is genuine. If, after phoning this number and quoting the engineer's reference number, you are still in any doubt as to the legal registration of your engineer, you should report this to the Gas Safe Register via phone or email.