Families warned of risk to life from unregistered gas work amid surge in prosecutions of illegal traders
Families, homeowners and businesses have been warned not to gamble with their safety by using unregistered gas fitters, as new figures reveal a sharp rise in prosecutions for illegal gas work.
To mark Gas Safety Week (14 to 20 September 2026), the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has revealed that since the beginning of 2025, seventeen people have been convicted for carrying out gas work illegally. By comparison, there were three convictions in the year 2022/23 and four in 2023/24.
Over the past five years, HSE has successfully investigated and prosecuted dozens of defendants for breaching gas safety laws by working on gas appliances without being registered with Gas Safe Register.
Unqualified gas work can have fatal consequences. Poorly installed or serviced boilers, cookers and fires can cause gas leaks, explosions, fires and carbon monoxide poisoning — a silent killer that claims lives every year.
Gas Safety Week, now in its fourteenth year, is a national campaign bringing together the gas industry, local authorities and landlords to raise awareness of the importance of gas safety.
Read more on the HSE website.
1 in 4 contractors start before compliance checks
Almost one in four contractors start work before compliance checks are complete (23%), new research reveals, exposing a gap between contractor management policy and day-to-day practice.
Inconsistency in contractor verification and oversight can expose businesses to increased risk of safety incidents, project delays, reputational damage as well as legal and regulatory penalties.
SafeContractor’s Control or Assumption? The State of Contractor Management in 2026 report surveyed 200 hiring clients and 300 contractors working across social housing, facilities and property management, manufacturing, transport and logistics. The report explores how contractor compliance and competence is checked and managed amid increasing supply chain expectations under the Building Safety Act 2022, the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015, and wider health and safety, ESG and procurement requirements.
For more on the report visit the HSM website.
Fire extinguisher recycling company fined after ‘thoughtful and kind man’ killed at work
A waste and recycling company in the West Midlands has been fined after a man described as ‘thoughtful and kind’ was killed while discharging a fire extinguisher.
Craig Pearson, 37, a father-of-four from Dudley, was working for Fire Protection Recycling Limited, at its site in Oldbury when the incident happened on 7 March 2023.
He had been processing powder fire extinguishers which were at the end of their serviceable life. While working on a cartridge type fire extinguisher, it had a sudden release of pressure and exploded, striking him in the head. After the incident, the fire extinguisher was found embedded in the ceiling of the workroom.
Craig was treated at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital for his injuries, but despite the efforts of medical staff, sadly died the next day, on 8 March.
Read about the incident on the HSE website.
AC for all London bus cabs after Unite campaign
Unite, the union representing passenger transport workers, has announced it has secured agreement for major improvements to working conditions for London’s bus drivers.
Following Unite’s campaigning work around hot weather working, Transport for London (TfL) and the capital’s bus operators have now committed to fitting all London bus driver cabs with air conditioning by May 2027.
At present, most London buses have cheaper and largely ineffective air cooling systems which take air from outside and circulate it around and can only lower temperatures by two or three degrees during heatwaves.
This summer, London experienced a record-breaking 40 days where the weather exceeded 30 degrees Celsius. Unite members working as bus drivers spoke out about the impact this had on their health, suffering problems including heatstroke, dehydration and fatigue as the temperatures inside their cabs rose to highs of 50 degrees. With some having to stop in service as they couldn’t physically continue.
Visit the HSM website to read more.
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