Gas Safety Certificate NZ: the gasfitter’s two certificates

Two certificates, two moments: CoC before, GSC after

The Certificate of Compliance certifies the work itself. It is issued when the gasfitting is finished and tested, before the installation goes live, and gasfitting is not considered complete until it exists. The Gas Safety Certificate comes later. Under the Gas (Safety and Measurement) Regulations 2010 every gasfitting job needs one once the work has been completed and connected, and it records that the connected installation is safe to use and has not affected the safety of any other part of the gas installation. The two can be combined on one form under regulation 85A, with duplicated details such as the address written once. Certificates can be paper or electronic, they must carry the Authentication Mark, and an electronic signature that uniquely identifies the person responsible is acceptable.

Which gasfitting jobs need which certificate

The regulations sort gasfitting into low-risk, general and high-risk work, and the category sets the paperwork. Low-risk work is, broadly, work that was exempt from certification before the 2013 changes. High-risk work includes additions or alterations to an existing installation (other than simple replacement), work where the means of compliance departs from the prescriptive route in the regulations, and jobs with additional identified hazards such as a gas hob in a caravan or boat with sleeping quarters. Everything else is general work. WorkSafe’s practitioner guide also makes the point that there is no longer a blanket exemption for installations on small LPG cylinders: a new hob on a 9 kg cylinder is general gasfitting.

• Low-risk: GSC required; CoC optional; no database entry.
• General: CoC and GSC required; no database entry.
• High-risk: CoC and GSC required, and the CoC issuer enters the work on the Electricity and Gas High-risk Database.

The Gas Safety Certificate: who issues it and by when

The person who makes the connection issues the GSC (or their supervisor, if they were working under supervision) once satisfied the installation is safe to use. If they are not satisfied, the regulations require them to disconnect immediately, so a GSC is never a courtesy form signed to clear the diary. The timing: as soon as practicable after connection to the gas supply, and no later than 20 working days after connection. A copy goes to the client (or the occupier if the client cannot be reached), and the issuer keeps every GSC for at least seven years. Parties named in the regulations, which include WorkSafe and the Board, can ask for a copy; WorkSafe’s guidance says the GSC copy is due within seven working days of a request. Note the clock: it starts at connection, not at completion of the pipework, so a job that is finished in March but connected in May is timed from May.

The gas CoC: before connection, and not too early

A CoC is required for all general and high-risk gasfitting (regulation 46) and is optional for low-risk work. The person who did the work or supervised it, and who is authorised to certify that category of gasfitting, is responsible for issuing it. Regulation 48 spells out what goes in it: the standard the work complies with, any certified design, other standards relied on, the manufacturer’s instructions, the gas type and pressure, that the parts are safe to connect, where the work is, who did what, any supervisees, and the dates. Under regulation 51(1)(c) the person connecting must issue or sight a CoC, and it must have been issued no earlier than six months before the connection. So a CoC that sits in the van for seven months does not support a connection; a fresh one is needed. Hand the client a copy, keep yours for seven years, and supply a copy of the CoC within 10 working days of a request from the parties listed in the regulations (WorkSafe’s guidance), which include WorkSafe and the Board.

High-risk gasfitting and the high-risk database

For high-risk work, the person who issues the CoC must enter selected details of the work on the Electricity and Gas High-risk Database within 20 days of issuing the CoC (WorkSafe’s guidance on the high-risk database). This is an online entry, not a certificate, and you should note the lodgement reference against the job. The most common trigger on a plumber’s day sheet is an alteration or addition to a house that already has gas: a new gas hob on an existing supply line, a relocated califont, or an extra branch off the meter. Treat any job on an existing installation as potentially high-risk until you have checked the category.

Who may sign, and what the licence has to do with it

Gasfitting is a separately licensed trade under the Plumbers, Gasfitters and Drainlayers Act 2006, and authorisation attaches to the individual practitioner. A certifying gasfitter works and certifies unsupervised. A gasfitter working under supervision does not certify: the supervising certifying gasfitter does, which makes the supervisor the person whose name and licence number carry the liability. Check your PGDB registration and current practising licence number before it goes on a certificate, and make sure apprentices and supervisees are named where the CoC asks for them. For the Building Code side of flues and ventilation, see our gas, flues and ventilation page.

Tracking the dates in Toolie

Toolie’s plumber pack has a gas certificates register. Each job records the risk category, gas type, CoC number and issue date, the connection date, and the GSC number and issue date, together with a table of appliances and the tests done on each. The register then shows whichever deadline is open: connect before the six-month CoC window closes, issue the GSC within 20 working days of connection, give the client their copy within 20 working days of issue, and lodge high-risk CoC details within 20 working days of issue. It skips weekends and national public holidays when counting working days, but regional anniversary days are not excluded from the count, so check your region if a date is tight. The CoC and GSC print ready to sign or save as PDF, and carry a reminder to check against the official form before issuing. You can open the register pre-filled from a quote. The high-risk database entry itself is still yours to make on WorkSafe’s system.

You can sign a certificate with your finger on the phone, and the register numbers each one automatically (GC-0001 for the CoC, GS-0001 for the GSC). Email to customer sends the signed certificate as a PDF and stamps the copy-given date, which clears the reminder to give the client their copy. On a gas job, the gas CoC (where the work needs one) stops the job being marked Completed until it’s issued, or until you record why you are overriding it.

Sources

Official sources this guide relies on. Rules change, so check the current version before relying on a date or threshold.

• WorkSafe: Gas Safety Certificate (GSC)
• WorkSafe: Certificate of compliance (CoC), gas
• WorkSafe: Practitioner guide to the regulatory changes for certification of gasfitting
• Gas (Safety and Measurement) Regulations 2010 (legislation.govt.nz)
• Plumbers, Gasfitters, and Drainlayers Board (PGDB)
• Interpretation Act 2019, section 13 (working day)

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