This week, 14 – 20 September 2015, marks Gas Safety Week in the UK. A week to promote awareness of gas safety and the maintenance of gas appliances in your home.
Keybury can help your home and business to be more gas aware. Call for more information on adding a carbon monoxide detector to your fire alarm, or having a fire risk assessment carried out at your business.
Gas safety statistics for the local area
A study has been conducted, inspecting gas appliances around the country. The findings of this investigation have shown a large number of unsafe gas appliances being used in areas across the UK.
1 in 10 inspected boilers were found to be unsafe. As were 1 in 10 gas cookers. Gas fires were the largest problem, with 50% of the fires tested being classed as unsafe.
You can find out about your local area here.
The Keighley area (BD21) was found to have a total of 88 unsafe gas appliances, with almost half of these being boilers.
The Bingley area (BD16) showed much fewer unsafe gas appliances, but the largest category were gas fires with 23 unsafe fires found.
Ilkley (LS29) shows 72 unsafe gas appliances, Skipton (BD23) show 49 and the central Harrogate area (HG1) shows 83 unsafe gas appliances – 45 of these were boilers.
Central areas of cities seem to have fewer gas appliance issues, most likely due to more residential areas being on the outskirts of the cities.
When you expand the data to the residential areas of the cities:
Huddersfield – 78 unsafe gas appliances
Sheffield – 182 unsafe gas appliances
York – 237 unsafe gas appliances
Leeds – 448 unsafe gas appliances
Bradford – 781 unsafe gas appliances
Tips for keeping yourself safe from issues with gas appliances and carbon monoxide poisoning
– Only use a registered gas engineer, be sure to check their ID.
– Check for warning signs of problems with your gas appliances – for instance, a lazy yellow flame instead of crisp blue ones, black marks on or near the appliances or too much condensation in a room.
– Have all your gas appliances regularly serviced and safety checked each year. If rented, ask for a copy of the landlord’s current gas safety record.
– Shared and rented accommodation are also at a higher risk of fire, so It is important to keep up to date with the servicing and safety measures related to gas in the home.
6 signs of carbon monoxide poisoning
– Headaches
– Dizziness
– Breathlessness
– Nausea
– Collapse
– Loss of consciousness
Unsafe gas appliances can put you at risk of carbon monoxide poisoning, gas leaks, fires and explosions.
It is advisable to fit an audible carbon monoxide detector. Changes in the law now require rented properties to be fit with carbon monoxide detection. Read more about carbon monoxide alarms in our previous blog.
For more information on fire safety at your home or business, our fire division are happy to help discuss your options, or call us now to book a full fire risk assessment for your business.