• Plumber and gasfitter Mathew Watkins was convicted for installing a gas cooker in a bedroom, risking carbon monoxide poisoning.
• Watkins’ licence was suspended and he was ordered to pay $8900 towards disciplinary costs.
• The Plumbers, Gasfitters & Drainlayers Board highlighted the serious nature of Watkins’ offence, which followed closely behind another.

A tradesman disciplined after he was burned in a fire while altering a gas pipe has fallen foul of regulations again, this time for installing a gas cooker in a bedroom that could have poisoned the occupants.

Plumber and gasfitter Mathew Watkins has had his certifying gasfitter licence suspended for the defective, non-compliant work that included installing a flueless gas appliance in the converted garage serving as a bedroom.

A lawyer for the investigator, Elena Mok, submitted that the risk of incomplete combustion because of the defects in the work and the release of carbon monoxide into the sleeping space could have poisoned the occupants.

The Plumbers, Gasfitters & Drainlayers Board described the seriousness of Watkins’ offending as “very high”, given the significant number of defects and the very serious nature of some of them.

“This was a case that could have had very serious consequences,” the board said in a decision released in February this year.

A senior building specialist at the Auckland Council visited the property and discovered “significant compliance issues” with the work. Photo / 123rf

It was worried that it was Watkins’ second disciplinary conviction for defective work within a short time frame, and considered this was an aggravating factor in determining a penalty.

In 2021, Watkins was injured in a fire that started while he was altering a gas pipe to allow the installation of a new gas meter at a residential property.

He required hospital treatment and was fined $3500.

Watkins did bedroom installation soon after, for which he has now had his registration and licence suspended until completion of an appropriate competence programme.

He was ordered to pay $8900 towards the costs of the disciplinary process.

He pleaded guilty in July 2024 to charges of carrying out gasfitting in a negligent or incompetent manner and issuing a false or misleading return concerning residential gasfitting at a property in Auckland in September 2021.

Watkins installed gas pipework, an instantaneous water heater, a freestanding gas cooker and a two-burner gas cooktop at a property in Auckland.

The work was carried out in two separate buildings at the property, with the cooktop installed in a bedroom that had been converted from a garage.

At the time, Watkins was a tradesman gasfitter, but not yet a certifying gasfitter, who was meant to have been working under the supervision of his father, Chris Watkins, who the board noted had not supervised the work.

Mathew Watkins became a certifying gasfitter, which enabled him to issue gas certificates, in May 2022.

He backdated the certificate he had issued to September 2021 to be within the 20-working-day timeframe for issuing a certificate under the regulations.

NZME has not been able to reach Mathew Watkins for comment, but he said at the hearing that not having his father so closely involved with his work may have contributed to the failings in this case.

Chris Watkins told NZME he’d had no contact with his son for some time and believed he had moved overseas.

He said his son, who at the time was qualified and eligible to upload his full licence, should have done that, but it appeared he hadn’t.

Chris Watkins said he had asked him “three or four times”, and it was perhaps his failure that he hadn’t checked.

In March 2023, a complaint about the garage having been converted to sleeping quarters prompted a visit by the council.

A senior building specialist at the Auckland Council and qualified gasfitter Garry Cruickshank visited the property and discovered “significant compliance issues” with the work, which he identified as unsafe and presenting a high risk to the health and safety of the occupants.

A certifying gasfitter and technical adviser to the board, Hamish Alexander, identified further problems he later classified as “high risk” and likely to cause “significant harm” to the occupants.

Cruickshank obtained a copy of the Certificate of Compliance and saw it had been signed by Mathew Watkins.

Alexander was also concerned that it certified that the work was safe and had been done lawfully.

In March and April 2023, Cruickshank returned to the property unsupervised and attempted to remediate the defective work.

The board said he fixed some, but not all, of the compliance issues.

Watkins then failed to issue a gas certificate for the remedial work or enter it into a database as required.

Cruickshank returned to the property and identified further compliance issues with the gas fitting work and then lodged a complaint with the board.

The board took into account Watkins’ guilty plea when deciding a penalty but noted it had arrived only after the investigator had fully prepared for a hearing, held in Wellington last November.

Watkins also recognised his failings on this occasion and was remorseful, which was to his credit, the board said.

Watkins submitted at the hearing that he was not currently working and had recently gone on to a benefit while he recovered from an injury and would begin looking for employment once he had recovered.

He said he looked forward to doing some training and upskilling in the areas where he needed it, as he agreed it was important to stay up to date with products and practices.

Tracy Neal is a Nelson-based Open Justice reporter at NZME. She was previously RNZ’s regional reporter in Nelson-Marlborough and has covered general news, including court and local government for the Nelson Mail.