01/04/2010 - Plumber fined for illegal pipes job
A plumber has been fined £1,000 for substandard and illegal work at a mobile home park by laying gas pipes beneath a property without proper ventilation - exposing residents to serious risk.
Michael O'Sullivan laid the pipes under the property at Waltham Abbey, Essex. Residents at the mobile home site in Breach Barns, Galley Hill found unsafe fittings on cylinders of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) used for heating and cooking.
They contacted the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) in early 2009. Mr O'Sullivan, of Tillingham Court, Winter Way, Waltham Abbey, admitted breaching the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998. He was ordered to pay £500 costs. Sines Parks Ltd, the park management company which hired him, was fined £2,500 with £2,000 costs.
Mr O'Sullivan was not registered to work on gas equipment and his work was found to be unsafe by HSE gas specialists. HSE banned him from carrying out further gas work until he was qualified and registered.
Sines Parks Ltd, of Harrow, admitted breaching the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998. It had a duty to check that Mr O'Sullivan was registered.
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