Carbon Monoxide (CO) Awareness week was launched by CO Awareness the Charity at the House of Lords on November 16. Chartered Institute of Plumbing and Heating Engineering (CIPHE) chief executive Blane Judd was there to support the event, along with industry representatives including members of Gas Safe Register and the House of Commons and the House of Lords.
Some of the victims who had survived and relatives of victims who had not survived were also there to recount their tragic stories, many of which could have been avoided.
Mr Judd commented: 'The threat of CO is very real - as emphasised by the moving personal accounts we heard at last week's launch. There is an assumption that it is a gas related problem but we heard of deaths caused by other fuelled appliances and even from a neighbour's faulty appliance. My own mother could have been one of the statistics if a CO alarm I fitted just a week before hadn't detected a fault with her cooker.
'She had been suffering health problems which at the time were not attributed to CO poisoning. Without the alarm we may not have discovered the fault with the cooker until it was too late.
Don't risk the lives of your family or tenants - fit a CO alarm and ensure fuel burning appliances and boilers are regularly checked by plumbing and heating professionals.'
The Charity took the opportunity to announce the creation of a Helping Hands award which allowed the President Lynn Griffiths to thank those people and organisations who had helped her promote Carbon Monoxide Awareness. The award was presented to Nick Atkin (Halton Housing), Dennis Denholm (NAPIT), Rob Silk (press pack and leaflet/poster designer), Fred Pye (Liverpool Council) and Allan Vickers (ARGI). Tony Brunton, of ARGI, reviewed the year's achievements for 2009/2010 'The year of the victim' and announced that the presidential theme for 2010/2011 would be 'Working together to prevent carbon monoxide poisoning.'