Lancashire based leading home assistance provider HomeServe Membership Ltd is to lend its support to the domestic heating and hot water industry by joining the Heating and Hotwater Industry Council (HHIC).
The HHIC promotes and supports the sustained growth of the heating and hot water industry, and Preston-based HomeServe has now become one of the UK’s largest companies to sign up to the body.
The announcement comes during Gas Safety Week (18-24 September), an annual campaign which sees gas and heating organisations across the UK – including HomeServe – working together to raise awareness of the dangers of poorly maintained gas appliances, which can cause gas leaks, fires, explosions and carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning.
HomeServe engineers will be in homes across the UK during the week encouraging residents to give their gas appliances an annual safety check this week in support of the national awareness campaign, now in its seventh year.
On joining the HHIC, Bob Kerr, Director of Health, Safety and Environment at HomeServe Membership Limited said: “HomeServe is a partnerships business, it’s how we’ve grown and succeeded, and we understand the importance of working alongside forward-thinking organisations and trade bodies to improve the industries we work in.
“We’re proud of our strong safety record and standards, so we welcome any organisation that aims to make this the norm across an industry. We’re hopeful that the HHIC will play a crucial role in shaping legislation and refining the practices of tradespeople all over the UK and we look forward to contributing to the council in all the ways we can.
“This is an important week for many reasons, but in particular as its Gas Safety Week which is a really important national initiative. During the course of this week, we’ll be doing everything we can to help raise awareness of gas safety issues and highlighting the importance of having gas appliances checked by engineers that are registered with the official gas authority, Gas Safe Register.”
By law, only Gas Safe registered engineers like those at HomeServe are allowed to work on gas appliances. According to Gas Safe Register, every year an estimated quarter of a million illegal gas jobs are carried out by unregistered workers that do not have the skills or the qualifications to do the job safely.
Stewart Clements, Director at HHIC, added: “We’re proud to welcome HomeServe alongside us at the HHIC and we’re excited about what the partnership could lead to. We share very similar values, in that both companies are committed to delivering the highest quality heating and hot water services to homes throughout the UK and advocate fair pricing, reliability and most importantly, safety.”
