The Government have just announced the terms of their proposed Carbon Monoxide alarm requirements review.
The review will consider the evidence base to establish whether regulations currently limited to solid fuel appliances in the private rented sector and building regulations are fit for purpose or whether alarm requirements should be extended to the installation of oil and gas boilers and to social housing.
The scope of the review will consider the following legislative requirements
- Part J of the Building Regulations: Combustion Appliances and Fuel Storage Systems (England) that currently require carbon monoxide alarms upon the installation of fixed combustion appliances burning solid fuel in dwellings.
- The Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm (England) Regulations 2015 that currently require private rented sector landlords to install carbon monoxide alarms in properties having solid fuel appliances.
- Social housing legislation and standards (England).
The review will include consideration of the following evidence:
- Improvements to and the falling cost of carbon monoxide alarms.
- Any new evidence on the number of carbon monoxide incidents that the emergency services attend.
- Any new research that shows whether carbon monoxide poisonings are wrongly diagnosed as something else and so under-reported by statistics.
- Any new research on the effects of prolonged low-level carbon monoxide exposure on health.
A working group of interested stakeholders and experts will be assembled to support the review and the aim is to submit the outcome of the review to ministers in December 2018 for consideration, with a view to consulting on any proposed changes in early 2019.
For more information visit the Gov.uk website.