Who is responsible for gas safety in a commercial building?
Whoever controls the gas appliances, pipework and flues at a workplace is responsible for keeping them safe. In a building with one business in it, that is usually the business. In a building with several tenants, it is often split: each tenant for the gas inside its own space, and the landlord for anything it keeps control of, such as a central boiler or the pipework in the shared parts. The lease, and who actually controls each part, decide where the line falls.
The duty in the law
The duty is regulation 35 of the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998. Every employer, and every self employed person, must make sure that any gas appliance, installation pipework or flue at a place of work under their control is maintained in a safe condition. The word that matters is control. The duty sits with whoever controls the gas equipment at the workplace, not simply with whoever owns the building.
Two other regulations sit beside it:
- Regulation 3: anyone working on gas must be competent, and a business doing gas work must be on the Gas Safe Register.
- Regulation 34: nobody may use a gas appliance, or let it be used, if they know or have reason to suspect it cannot be used without danger.
Where people live or sleep in the building, regulation 36 adds a landlord’s duty: a gas safety check every year, with a written record, for the appliances and flues serving those rooms.
Common set ups
| Building | Usually responsible |
|---|---|
| One business in its own premises | That business, as the employer in control |
| Multi let offices with a central boiler | The landlord for the central plant and shared pipework; each tenant for any gas appliance in its own space |
| Shop or restaurant on a lease | The tenant for its own appliances, such as a kitchen range or water heater; the landlord for anything it kept under its control |
| Building with flats above a business | The business for the gas at work, and the landlord’s yearly check under regulation 36 for the gas serving the flats |
These are the usual arrangements, not a rule. A lease can give the landlord the whole job, or hand all of it to the tenant, and the regulations follow who is actually in control.
Where the lease comes in
A commercial lease normally says who maintains what: the landlord’s plant, the tenant’s own fixtures, and who arranges servicing. Read the repair and maintenance clauses alongside the plant. If the lease says the tenant maintains “its own installations” but the boiler that heats the tenant’s floor sits in a landlord’s plant room the tenant cannot enter, the landlord is likely to be the one in control of it.
Where it is unclear, agree it in writing, appliance by appliance. A missed check usually happens in the gap where each side assumed the other had it.
When a managing agent or facilities manager runs it
A landlord or occupier often hands the day to day work to a managing agent or a facilities management company. The agent can book the servicing, hold the records and chase the contractor. Whether the legal duty itself moves depends on the contract between them. Either way, the person in control should be able to show that the gas has been maintained, so keep the agreement, the service reports and the safety certificates together.
What the person responsible should have
- A list of every gas appliance, with where it is and who controls it
- The maker’s service interval for each, and when it was last done
- The last safety check record: a CP17 for most commercial appliances, a CP42 for a commercial kitchen
- Proof the engineer was Gas Safe registered for that type of work
- A note of anything found and what was done about it
For how often each kind of appliance needs a service and a check, see how often commercial gas appliances should be serviced.
If something is wrong
If anyone smells gas, follow what to do if you smell gas first. An appliance that is known or suspected to be dangerous must not be used, whoever is responsible for it, until a Gas Safe registered engineer has made it safe.
One contractor for the building
Neos Engineering carries out commercial gas safety checks, CP17 and CP42, and services and repairs commercial boilers and plant rooms across London. For a landlord, an agent or a facilities manager running several sites, one contractor holding the schedule means each appliance is checked on time and the records are in one place. The checks and prices are on our commercial gas safety page, and how we work with portfolios on the facilities management page.
If you need us
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