A worker has been sentenced after breaching a prohibition notice for gas work and for leaving gas appliances in a dangerous state.

Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court heard that in July 2015 Gary Miller disconnected and removed a boiler from a domestic property in Brentwood, and installed a replacement with associated pipework.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that Mr Miller had previously been issued with a prohibition notice for undertaking unregistered gas work in 2013, and had not since gained a registration. The gas work carried out by Mr Miller was inspected by a Gas Safe inspector who found it to be “at risk” meaning that the appliance, if operated, may have been a potential danger to life or property. Mr Miller had intended for a registered engineer to sign off the work, once he had installed the gas appliance, which is also not permissible under the regulations.

Gary Miller, of Fairfield Road, Ongar, pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 3(3) of the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998, and Section 22 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. He has been sentenced to a 12-month Community Order with 100 hours of unpaid work.

Speaking after the hearing, HSE inspector Adam Hills said: “Gary Miller undertook gas work when he knew he was not registered to do so. HSE will not hesitate to take appropriate action against rogue gas fitters who disregard the law and place lives at risk. Working with gas appliances is difficult, specialised and potentially very dangerous, so it is vital that this is only undertaken by trained and competent engineers who are registered with Gas Safe.”

Jonathan Samuel, chief executive of Gas Safe Register, added: “Every Gas Safe registered engineer carries a Gas Safe ID card, which shows who they are and the type of gas appliances they are qualified to work on. We always encourage the public to ask for and check the card, and if they have any concerns about the safety of work carried out in their home, to speak to us.”

For more information about gas safety visit http://www.hse.gov.uk/gas/index.htm

Notes to Editors:

1. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is Britain’s national regulator for workplace health and safety. We prevent work-related death, injury and ill health through regulatory actions that range from influencing behaviours across whole industry sectors through to targeted interventions on individual businesses. These activities are supported by globally recognised scientific expertise. hse.gov.uk
2. More about the legislation referred to in this case can be found at: legislation.gov.uk/
3. HSE news releases are available at http://press.hse.gov.uk

Representatives from the European Parliament and the Council reached yesterday evening a provisional agreement on the Regulation for monitoring and reporting CO₂ emissions and fuel consumption data from new heavy-duty vehicles (HDVs), i.e. lorries, buses and coaches. This is the first ever EU legislation focusing on the CO₂ emissions from these vehicles. The new rules are part of the EU’s Strategy on low-emission mobility and Communication on delivering on low-emission mobility laying out actions for a fundamental modernisation of European mobility and transport Accelerating the shift to clean and sustainable mobility is essential to improve the quality of life and health of citizens and contribute to the EU’s climate objectives under the Paris Agreement. The clean mobility transition offers major opportunities for the European economy and reinforces the EU’s global leadership in clean vehicles. Monitoring and reporting CO₂ emissions and fuel consumption of new heavy-duty vehicles will also increase transparency enabling transport operators to make well-informed purchasing decisions and save fuel costs. It will also drive innovation amongst European manufacturers.

Welcoming the political agreement, Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy Miguel Arias Cañete said: “This agreement is proof of Europe’s firm intention to curb the growing CO₂ emissions from heavy-duty vehicles. I thank the European Parliament and the Council for their work to reach this ambitious outcome. With this new robust, reliable and transparent monitoring and reporting system, we are on track for the next step: CO₂ emissions standards for heavy-duty vehicles to be proposed in May 2018.”

Main elements

• Member States to monitor and report registration data concerning all new HDVs registered in a calendar year, including trailers.
• Vehicle manufacturers to monitor and report information related to CO₂ emissions and fuel consumption, determined according to the certification procedure for each new vehicle simulated with the Vehicle Energy Consumption Calculation Tool (VECTO) during a calendar year.
• The Commission to make reported data publicly available in a register, managed by the European Environment Agency. Sensitive data on grounds of personal data protection and fair competition will not to be published, i.e. the Vehicle Identification Numbers and name of component manufacturers. Some other data will be published in a range format, i.e. the aerodynamic drag value of each vehicle.
• The Commission to set up a system of administrative fines in case of vehicle manufacturers not reporting the data or reporting falsified data.
• The Commission to set up a system for monitoring and reporting the results of future on-road tests for the verification of the CO₂ emissions and fuel consumption of heavy-duty vehicles.

Next steps

The provisional agreement must now be formally approved by the European Parliament and Council of Ministers bringing together the national governments of the EU Member States. Following approval, the Regulation will be published in the EU’s Official Journal and enter into force 20 days later.

Read more:

Reducing CO₂ emissions from heavy-duty vehicles

Determination of CO₂ emissions and fuel consumption of trucks from 1 January 2019

Europe on the Move

Communication “Road from Paris”

On 26 March, the Bulgarian presidency reached an provisional agreement with the European Parliament on a regulation on monitoring and reporting of CO2 emissions as well as fuel consumption of new heavy-duty vehicles. This regulation forms part of the EU’s overall efforts to reduce CO2 emissions, and is a further step towards a competitive low carbon economy.

The provisional text will be presented to EU ambassadors for approval. Once approved, the text will be submitted to the European Parliament for a vote and then to the Council for final adoption. It will enter into force 20 days after its publication in the Official Journal.

The new system of monitoring and reporting will provide the basis for setting and enforcing standards on CO2 emissions and fuel consumption, and constitutes a precursor to a further legislative proposal which the Commission aims to present later this year.

For cars and vans, rules are already in place. The regulation on which we now have a provisional agreement is aimed at new lorries, buses and coaches. Emissions of heavy-duty vehicles registered in the EU will for the first time be measured and monitored in a standardised way. The regulation will allow for the creation of a central EU register where authorities and manufacturers will provide data on CO2 emissions and fuel consumption performance. In order to be transparent and to allow for easier comparison between different vehicle models this data will be made accessible to the public. The only exception being cases which are justified by the need to protect private data and to ensure fair competition.

At its meeting of 28 June 2007, the Environment Council called for a reinforced strategy to reduce CO2 emissions of road vehicles including heavy-duty vehicles. In response, the European Commission presented a proposal on 1 June 2017 to create a mandatory EU wide system for monitoring and reporting CO2 emissions and fuel consumption of new heavy-duty vehicles.

On 15 December 2017, EU ambassadors agreed on a mandate for negotiations

with the European Parliament. The Bulgarian Presidency started negotiations with the European Parliament on 27 February and reached an agreement already at the second trilogue on 26 March.

According to the European Environment Agency, greenhouse gas emissions from road transport in 2015 were 19% above 1990 levels. In 2015 road transport was responsible for almost 73 % of total greenhouse gas emissions from transport, including aviation and international shipping. Of these emissions, 44.5 % were contributed by passenger cars, while 18.8 % came from heavy-duty vehicles. However, in order to reach the 2030 climate policy framework objectives, the EU aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from transport to around 20% below their 2008 level by 2030.

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