At this time of year, boiler maintenance is absolutely critical.
No customers will want to spend their money in a venue where they will be sat frozen. But more importantly, gas appliances and flues must, by law, have annual safety checks. Gas appliances includes boilers, as well as appliances such as stoves and fireplaces. The legislation is in place for landlords, but tenants are responsible for equipment they own.
In 2016, figures showed that boiler breakdowns cost the UK more that £787m pounds. A large proportion of these will have occurred in households, but these figures show just how susceptible boilers are to damage, especially when extreme cold weather hits.
Why are boiler checks so important?
The Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (PUWER) place duties on people and companies who own, operate or have control over work equipment to properly look after and maintain their equipment, including boilers.
PUWER requires that equipment is:
- Suitable for the intended use
- Safe for use and regularly maintained and inspected
- Only used by people who have proper training
- Accompanied by proper health and safety measures and controls that limit and dictate use. This includes protective equipment use.
And on top of those legal requirements, it is also an insurance requirement that equipment shall be maintained in an efficient condition.
The cost of a maintenance check pales in comparison to the price you’d have to pay to replace a boiler, or any equipment which is damaged because it’s frozen over.
You could also save yourself money with regular checks, as faulty or old boilers have a habit of using more energy than required.
The responsibility to your customers is paramount and forms the strongest reason why the checks are so important. Statistics from the government show that Carbon Monoxide poisoning (one of the more common dangers of faulty boilers) leads to 4,000 A&E admissions and 50 deaths every year.
We’ve also seen examples of boilers exploding and causing injury and damage to surrounding persons and items.
For instance, a supermarket café canteen boiler exploded, blasting a hole in the wall and injuring 15 bystanders.
What kind of insurance policy do you need?
We offer an ‘All Machinery’ policy which should protect you in event of breakdowns, joint leakage, explosion, operator error or other unforeseen circumstance for most large electrical goods and machinery (you should have a list of exclusions)
This type of cover won’t however cover against non-standard risks such as fire and flooding. The cover will work on a reinstatement as new basis.
All Machinery will also cover consequential damage property surrounding the machine (so long as it belongs to you)
If you’d like any more information on the protection we can offer for incidents like these, call us today. For now, it’s vital that you look after your venue with proactive precaution.
