British Gas - accident whilst repairing boiler

happyfeet12

Hi all,

Please feel free to highlight if I’ve posted this thread in the wrong category - I’m not a regular poster.

I rent my house and at the weekend a British Gas engineer came out to the house to repair the back boiler and find a gas leak (gas had been capped 2 days previously), My partner was at home with my daughter (3 years old) whilst he was there.

To get to the back boiler the engineer had to take the whole fire apart and away from the wall (and scattered the different parts around the living area). At around 1PM my daughter ran in to the living area and slipped, cutting her toe quite badly on a part from the fire. The engineer was out at his van at this point doing some paperwork, but had left his tools, all of the different parts etc. all over the floor.

Upon hearing her cries, he came back in to the house and insisted that she went to A&E and be checked over, which my partner done. She ended up having to have the wound glued together and dissolvable stitches as it was down to the pulp. She also had to have a tetanus jab as it was cut on the metal. The engineer waited at our house whilst she was at A&E as he hadn’t finished the job yet anyway.

Upon returning my partner explained what happened at the hospital and the engineer reported the incident to his manager, who wants to visit us for a statement.

To be honest, whilst i know it wasn’t his fault as my daughter ran in to the living room and she is 3 years old, I’m not sure what the rules are around him having to cover his work area whilst he is away from there in his van. Who is at fault here? Is it BT or my daughter/us for not keeping her away? Our parents seem to think that he should have kept the work area tidy and covered at least considering there was a child in the house.

What are your thoughts? Should I/my partner provide the statement to BT when they visit/call?

Thanks in advance.

victor2

BG (not BT presumably) will have insurance for this sort of thing. See what they say. A goodwill gesture may be on the cards to save either you or them going through an insurance claim. Just be honest when they visit. Obviously your daughter was hurt and unless the repair man stated that she should be kept out of the area he was working, you could hardly be blamed for it.
Accidents happen, that's what insurance is for.

teddysmum

When my new boiler, radiators and gas fire were fitted, I assumed it was my responsibility to keep my small dogs away from any work areas (they were crated) and I think the same onus is on a person taking care of a child in that situation.

macman

If she ran into the room, would it have made any difference if he had still been in the room or not?