Queensland’s gas industry has a motto: ‘Gas device safety is everyone’s responsibility’. It means that while you’d expect your gas fitter to take care to do safe work, as a householder you also need to ensure that you only engage qualified and licensed gas fitters to work on your premises.
The best way to make sure that any gas work you have done is safe and authorised is to obtain a gas compliance certificate for it. Receiving a gas compliance certificate is your guarantee that the work is safe and complies with current regulations.
Only licensed fitters can issue gas compliance certificates for the work they do. Unlicensed gas-fitting work is illegal due to the risks to public safety. As well as putting your home and family at risk, using an unlicensed could invalidate your insurance should something go wrong.
Business Queensland issues licenses to fitters who can show evidence that they have the right level of training and skills to work on your system. Only licensed gas fitters meet the required competency standards in work practices, equipment and installation. It is important that you check that the person carrying out the work holds the necessary licences.
When a licensed gas fitter completes the work on your system, this is what should happen:
If your system is found to be dangerous and can’t be fixed on the spot, the gas fitter is required to issue a defect notice. If the system poses an imminent risk to persons or property, then the fitter also has to take action to avoid, eliminate or minimise the risk.
This usually means disabling the system. The fitter also has to report the risk to the owner of the distribution system or fuel gas network and also to the Petroleum and Gas Inspectorate.
The best advice is to always use a licensed gas fitter and ensure your system is regularly serviced. You can always request to see your gas fitter’s licence. There are different types of fitters’ licences and not all licensed fitters are authorised to do every type of work. You can check their credentials on the registers on this page.
At Advanced Plumbing and Gas we have a team of qualified, licensed gas fitters serving Brisbane and the surrounding areas. We handle all types of gas fitting work, residential and commercial and all our work comes with a seven year guarantee so call us on 1300 087 356 for all your gas fitting jobs.