Bristish Gas Engineer refusing to go on roof.

gavjbrown

Hi Guys, Could really use some advise on how to procede with this please-

Last week the cowl on the top of our combi boiler flue blew off. As we have a B/G homecare policy we rang them and an engineer came out Monday. He ordered the part we needed and arranged for it to be fitted Wednesday.

Late Wednesday afternoon 2 engineers arrived to fit the part. After about 25 mins they decided it was unsafe for them to get on the roof and wouldn't do the job.

I got the feeling that as it was quite late in the day, raining and as its a couple of hours job that he made this excuse up.

I was quite surprised by this as the very same part was replaced by B/G 2 years earlier.

He said that there was nowhere to hang his ladder and that he his harness has to be attached to the ladder to be safe. He also said that if it had been the main chimney (seen in left of photo) he could have done it as it has a ridge to hang his ladder.

He said that if we put scaffolding up he might do the job. (the flue is 9 1/2 feet from the ground.)

The part that has broken from the top of the flue cant be replaced on its own and needs the complete flue replacing that will be quite costly and not something I could do myself.


Below is a photo which shows the flue on our bungalow roof. Its 9 1/2 feet to the base of the flue and the tiles are very strong and thick so can be walked on without breaking. The slope is very slight also so not really a risk of slipping off.

Can anyone offer some advice please.

The flue is the small black one above the door.
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ben500

He's right scaffold would be required for the job, unless you get a private individual in who is less concerned about taking risks, it would be extremely difficult if not impossible to secure a ladder effectively to do the job. Consult your building insurer to see if they will foot the bill for the scaffold or even try their legal line to determine if scaffold should be included in your BG cover. As for the roof being sound enough to walk on, it's appearance indicates it is lacking in maintenance and the tradesman may well not share your opinion on this.

where there is a risk of a fall liable to cause personal injury. There are now no height limits. The Regulations place duties on employers, the self-employed, and any person who controls the work of others to the extent of their control (for example the Estates Directorate and administrators who may contract others, such as window cleaners to work at height). The Regulations do not apply to the provision of instruction or leadership in caving or climbing by way of sport, recreation, team building, or similar activities.

Source

NeverInDebt

Thats at ground floor extension hardly very high up

ben500

NeverInDebt wrote: »

Thats at ground floor extension hardly very high up

Would you fancy taking a nosedive off it with a ladder in hot pursuit? 9.5' plus the height of the tradesman equates to a potential 15'+ drop which is more than enough to kill an individual. How much does it cost to hire you to risk your life?

shandypants5

ben500 wrote: »

Would you fancy taking a nosedive off it with a ladder in hot pursuit? 9.5' plus the height of the tradesman equates to a potential 15'+ drop which is more than enough to kill an individual. How much does it cost to hire you to risk your life?

No I wouldnt like to take a nosedive,

but I also think that if TWO engineers were present and they couldnt find a safe way to do the job I would be looking at retraining them.

I could do that job safely on my own without scaffold. (and have done similar jobs many times)

Surely if the OP has homecare cover then BG are responsible for providing scaffold if required?

Why didnt the man who came out to assess the job assess the access too?

it sounds like a pair of lazy fitters job dodging to me.

gavjbrown

Thanks for the replies, I'm willing to put scaffolding up but dont know anything about it or what would be acceptable to them.

Anyway just been informed now by a lady from BG that the flue inst covered on the homecare policy. Even though we had the same part replaced 2 years ago by them and just this week we have had 2 visits from BG engineers, one of which even brought the part along.

So now even with scaffolding she's saying they wont fit it.

espresso

Why don't you cancel your BG Homecare and get a local heating engineer to maintain/repair your system. Much less hassle and BG Homecare is a waste of money. Only 9 1/2 feet from the ground - what a pair of muppets!

macman

espresso wrote: »

Why don't you cancel your BG Homecare and get a local heating engineer to maintain/repair your system. Much less hassle and BG Homecare is a waste of money. Only 9 1/2 feet from the ground - what a pair of muppets!

Seconded: an independent installer would probably have sorted that out in an hour for a fraction of your annual BG premium.
Why do people persist in buying boiler/CH insurance? Especially from BG, where just about everything appears to be excluded when you do try to claim..

uptomyeyeballs

I agree, a local tradesman should be able to do the job for you safely with minimum fuss. In fact, they could probably reach it from a set of stepladders. BG guys obviously just didn't fancy doing it.

Gman0365

Exclusion on a homecare policy - "Repairing or replacing appliance flues that aren't part of your boiler"

I think its safe to say that this flue is a part of your boiler.

savemoney

That is hardly any height ridiculous more like they dont want to do the work as tehy wel known for trying to get out of doing work