Gas servicingThis leaflet explains what you can expect from our gas servicing service and why it is important that you allow us to carry this work out.

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Our promiseWe will ensure that every Accord home with gas appliances that are owned by us has an annual gas safety check. It is important for you and your family’s health and safety that gas appliances are serviced every year.

How safe are you?A faulty gas appliance can give off carbon monoxide which might make you feel sick, tired, behave erratically and in high quantities, can kill in minutes.Carbon monoxide from gas appliances kills on average 30 people a year. In many cases, this is caused by carbon monoxide escaping from poorly installed or maintained gas appliances such as fires, central heating boilers, water heaters and their associated flues. Your home is at risk from carbon monoxide poisoning if:

Your appliance was poorly installed Your appliance is not working properly Your appliance has not been checked for safety or maintained regularly There is not enough fresh air in the room – it is important that you do

not block airbricks Your chimney or flue gets blocked up You allow unqualified people to install or maintain your appliance.

What should I do if I suspect a leak?

If you smell gas or fumes and suspect a leak, you should follow these dos and don’ts:

Do turn off the gas supply at the meter

Do switch off the appliance, but don’t use it again until it has been checked by a gas safe engineer

Do ventilate the building by opening doors and windows

Call the emergency gas service on the free phone number – National Grid 0800 111 999

Don’t operate electrical switches

Don’t smoke.

If the smell persists, leave the property and inform your neighbours. You should then contact us on 0300 111 7000.

Safety checks

It is a legal requirement for us to carry out an annual gas servicing check within your home. This check will be carried out on appliances, flues, meters and pipe work which are our responsibility. We use qualified gas safe engineers to do this work.

Gas safety checks have to be completed at least once every 12 months. For example, if a check on your home was carried out on 1 September last year, the next check must be carried out by the 31 August this year.

Failure to comply with our request for access to your home could result in legal action and ultimately, the loss of your home. In exceptional circumstances, we will cap your gas supply following notification.

What happens when my home needs a gas safety check?

We will let you know when you need to book an appointment with us to carry out the gas servicing check in your home. We offer flexible appointment times so that you can be available for when they carry out this important work. We will make three reasonable attempts to agree access to your home.

If we do not get access to your home, we will take the appropriate legal action to enter your property. This is for the safety of you, your family and your neighbours. Before the start of any new tenancy, we will ensure that a gas safety check has been carried out in the empty property.

Do you check all gas appliances?

We are not required to maintain or check gas appliances that belong to you, such as cookers or gas fires. The gas engineer who visits your home will carry out a visual inspection of your appliances and will give you advice on the continued use of these items. If your appliances are seen to be ‘unsafe’, they will be isolated.

If the engineer disconnects any appliances, you must not reconnect them until any faults have been rectified. The gas engineer will take whatever action is needed to make the installation safe. They can also ask the gas emergency service provider to cut off the supply to the property if necessary.

Gas certificatesWe will provide you with a copy of the gas safety record or certificate after the annual check. If you are a new customer, you will get a copy with all other documentation when you sign your tenancy agreement.

Who carries out the gas servicing?A Gas Safe engineer working on behalf of the Group will carry out the gas safety check in your home. You should ask them to provide proof of their identity (an ID badge) before you let them into your home. You can also check the Engineer ID number at gassaferegister.co.uk

What happens at the gas service?

The registered gas engineer will ensure that installation pipe work, appliances and flues supplied by us, are maintained in a safe condition. If you have no gas appliances, it is still very important that we check the gas supply (carcass). This means that it is important you make an appointment when requested.

Code of conduct

We have a code of conduct that sets out the behaviour required by those people carrying out work in your home. This includes how they should treat you and your property and the need for them to clean up after any work.

Our commitment

We will:

Provide a minimum of 30 days notice of the first appointment to carry out a gas safety inspection and service

Arrange appointments to suit you

Enable you to contact us to rearrange appointments

Provide you with a copy of the gas safety certificate

Ensure contractors are polite, wear uniforms and carry identification and name badges

Check any hard-wired smoke detectors in your home while we are there.

Monitoring how we are doing

We will carry out a satisfaction survey after every gas service that has taken place, analyse the results, feedback our findings to you and use this information to improve the service we provide

You may receive a request from our gas auditor to inspect the work carried out by the gas engineer. This helps us to improve our services.

What if you are not happy?We welcome feedback, good and not so good, on the services that we deliver. It helps us put right any problems or improve the way we do things. It also helps us compliment our people if they have delivered a good service. If you are happy, or unhappy, with the service you have received please tell us. We will give you details of our Compliments and Complaints Policy and we will look into your comments and respond to you.

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Accord Housing Association, 178 Birmingham Road, West Bromwich, B70 6QG Telephone: 0300 111 7000 Email: customerfirst@accordgroup.org.uk

Printed on part-recycled paper using environmentally-friendly inks

accordgroup.org.uk

Complaints and compliments

Accord Group / Complaints and compliments

This leaflet explains how to make a complaint or compliment

Do you need this document in another language or format?

Tick the box next to the language or format you need and send it to the address below. This leaflet is also available in large print, Braille, audio and EasyRead formats.

Arabic

Bengali

Gujarati

Hindi

Polish

Punjabi

Slovak

Somali

Urdu

Large print Braille Audio EasyRead

Accord Group, 178 Birmingham Road, West Bromwich, B70 6QG Telephone: 0300 111 7000 Email: customerfirst@accordgroup.org.uk

Printed on part-recycled paper using environmentally-friendly inks

Do you need this document in another language or format?

Tick the box next to the language or format you need and send it to the address below. This leaflet is also available in large print, Braille, audio and EasyRead formats.