02 November 2012
The UK’s leading fuel safety charity, the Gas Safety Trust has welcomed anew law making it a legal requirement to fit carbon monoxide alarms in all new homes in Northern Ireland and is supporting the move to make CO alarms mandatory in all properties and the rest of the UK.
The new law also requires that an alarm be fitted whenever a boiler or solid fuel stove is upgraded or replaced.Research suggests half of the UK population mistakenly believe their household smoke alarms will alert them to a CO gas leak. The new law follows the deaths of two teenagers from carbon monoxide poisoning in August 2010 in a holiday apartment in Castlerock, County Londonderry.
The Department of Health estimates that 50 people are killed by carbon monoxide poisoning, and at least 4,000 are treated in hospital, in the UK each year.Gas Safety Trust Board Chair, Chris Bielby MBE said: ‘The Trust welcomes the new law and believes that every home should be fitted with a carbon monoxide alarm and homeowners made more aware of the dangers of CO poisoning. With the support of the industry, we really must push for the installation of more alarms across the country to help reduce the number of deaths and serious injury’.