Gas appliances are safe when they’re installed and maintained properly — but faulty work or a badly serviced boiler can be dangerous. Knowing the basics protects you and your household, and there are clear legal duties on the people who work on your gas and on landlords.
Only use a Gas Safe engineer
By law, anyone working on gas appliances in the UK must be on the Gas Safe Register — it replaced the old CORGI scheme. Always check the engineer’s Gas Safe ID card before they start, and never let an unregistered person fit or repair a boiler, cooker or fire. You can check an engineer or business on the Gas Safe Register website.
If you rent your home
Landlords have extra duties. Your landlord must arrange an annual gas safety check on the appliances and flues they provide, using a Gas Safe engineer, and give you a copy of the record — within 28 days of the check, or at the start of a new tenancy. If yours hasn’t, ask for it.
Carbon monoxide — the silent risk
Carbon monoxide (CO) is a poisonous gas you can’t see or smell, produced when fuels don’t burn properly. Fit an audible CO alarm near your appliances and know the symptoms — headaches, dizziness, nausea, breathlessness — which often ease when you leave the house. If you suspect CO, get fresh air and seek medical help.
In a gas emergency
If you smell gas or suspect a leak, don’t turn switches on or off, put out naked flames, open doors and windows, and call the free National Gas Emergency line on 0800 111 999 straight away.
What to do next
Check your engineer is Gas Safe registered, test your CO alarm, and if you rent, make sure you’ve had your gas safety record. For boiler servicing and your rights when work goes wrong, see our heating and boilers page.
Sources
Gas Safe Register; GOV.UK / HSE (Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations
1998 — landlord responsibilities); NHS (carbon monoxide poisoning). Reviewed:
3 September 2026.