Gas safety in schools: what do heads and premises managers need to know?

Who is responsible for gas safety in a school?

The employer carries the main legal duty. IGEM's guidance for school management and staff explains that responsibility rests with the local authority in maintained schools, and with the governing body or proprietor in foundation, voluntary-aided and independent schools, academies and universities. Where a building is provided under a Private Finance Initiative contract, the building provider and the school need to agree who is responsible for what. The head teacher or principal is usually the senior responsible person on site.

HSE's guidance for employers names schools among the workplaces where work on gas fittings must be carried out by a Gas Safe registered engineer who is qualified for that work. It is the employer's job to check this.

Which standard covers gas in classrooms?

IGEM/UP/11, Gas installations for educational establishments, covers the design, installation, operation and maintenance of gas pipework, systems and appliances used for teaching in schools, colleges, universities and training facilities. It covers natural gas and LPG. It does not cover central catering kitchens, which fall under BS 6173 and IGEM/UP/19 (see our gas interlock guide), or boiler plant, which follows the commercial heating standards in our plant room maintenance checklist.

How should gas be isolated in a teaching room?

IGEM's guidance for school staff describes the layers of isolation that should be in place:

• Emergency control valve: at the incoming gas meter, so the supply to the whole site can be shut off. Appropriate staff should be briefed on where it is and how to use it.
• Additional emergency control valves: near the point where gas pipework enters each teaching or preparation area, in an easily accessible place and not in a locked room, cupboard or box.
• Automatic isolation: where a manual valve is not practical, an automatic valve with emergency stop buttons at points such as the teacher's desk and exit doors. It should only be reset by authorised people, for example with a key or code, and should include a check that all downstream appliance valves are closed before gas is restored.
• Appliance valves: a manual isolation valve for each appliance, group of Bunsen burners, laboratory bench or fume cupboard.

What should teaching and technician staff check?

• Know where the emergency control valve and emergency stop buttons are, and how the automatic valve system works.
• Look routinely at gas appliances in their rooms, paying attention to the combustion air supply and flue, flexible gas connections, end fittings and self-sealing plugs and sockets.
• Make sure cookers are fitted with their restraints and that hoses are not damaged or stretched.
• Report any smell of gas, damaged hose or appliance fault straight away, and stop using the appliance.

Staff who operate gas appliances should be trained in their safe use. Staff should not repair, adjust or reconnect gas appliances themselves; that is work for a Gas Safe registered engineer.

What if the gas has been off over the holidays?

IGEM's guidance notes that if a teaching area's gas supply has been shut down for two weeks or more without the upstream and downstream manual valves being physically closed, purging air out of the downstream pipework by a competent gas engineer should be considered. Plan this into the start of term rather than leaving staff to relight appliances that have been isolated for weeks.

How often should school gas installations be inspected?

Inspection and servicing should follow the manufacturers' instructions. HSE's catering guidance treats annual inspection of gas appliances as a reasonable minimum, and most schools plan teaching room gas, kitchen gas and boiler plant inspections on a 12-month cycle, often during a holiday so lessons are not disrupted. A tightness test is carried out after any work on the pipework, when a leak is suspected and before gas is restored, and as the engineer judges necessary during inspections. See our gas tightness testing guide.

What other law applies?

IGEM's guidance lists the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, COSHH, the Dangerous Substances and Explosive Atmospheres Regulations 2002 (DSEAR), the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998, which treat items such as Bunsen burners as work equipment, and RIDDOR, alongside the gas safety regulations. Under DSEAR the school's risk assessment covers the gas installation; IGEM's guidance says this will typically mean an annual inspection of pipework joints.

What records should a school keep?

• Inspection and service reports for teaching room gas, catering gas and boiler plant.
• Tightness test results and any warning notices, with the repair record.
• Drawings showing valve and emergency stop locations.
• Staff briefing records for gas isolation and safe use.

CombiCert has installed gas hobs in a school food technology classroom in Telford. For school and college gas work across Telford and Shropshire, see our light commercial gas services or our guide to commercial gas safety inspections.

This guide is general information, not a substitute for an on-site assessment by a Gas Safe registered engineer. If you smell gas, call 0800 111 999.