6 minute read
What actually happens during a gas and electrical safety check
What a licensed electrician and a licensed gasfitter test, how long a visit takes, what gets reported, and how a failed component is handled.
The electrical safety check
The electrician works from the switchboard outwards. The board is inspected for damage, overheating and correct labelling; RCD protection is confirmed on all circuits and trip-tested with the times recorded; socket outlets are tested; light fittings and switches are inspected.
The recorded trip time matters more than the pass. An RCD that trips at the edge of its tolerance today is one that will fail before the next visit, and knowing that two years early is the difference between a planned replacement and an emergency call-out.
The gas safety check
Every fixed gas appliance is tested — cooktops, heaters, hot water units — along with the installation behind them. A negative pressure test confirms the pipework holds. Combustion and spillage testing is performed where the appliance type requires it, and ventilation and flueing are checked.
A carbon monoxide risk found during a gas safety check is not a line on a report to be read next week. An unsafe appliance is isolated on the spot and the agency is told the same day.
When something fails
A failed component does not fail the compliance visit — it is a finding, recorded against the job with photographs, reported to the agency, and quoted separately as remedial work. The distinction matters: the check itself is complete and the compliance date advances, while the repair is tracked as its own piece of work.
What must never happen is a check quietly recorded as passed because the repair was booked. The record has to say what was found.