With advocacy and carbon monoxide (CO) awareness as core objectives, the Gas Safety Trust has embarked on a parliamentary campaign calling for the installation of audible CO alarms alongside energy efficiency improvements under the Green Deal Scheme.
Details of the Green Deal Scheme are set out in the proposed Energy Bill 2010-11, currently being debated in the House of Lords. Benefiting up to 14 million homes in the UK, the Green Deal allows energy efficiency improvements to be made to homes and businesses without the consumer having to pay for them upfront.
However, the Trust argues that the resulting reduction in ventilation caused by this type of work could create hermetically seal properties, thereby increasing the potential for harm arising from a build up of CO where faulty appliances exist.
To protect householders from this risk, the Trust believes that the installation of an audible CO alarm in Green Deal properties would help alert occupiers to any build-up of CO, thus reducing the likelihood of serious injury, death or lesser harm that would result from CO exposure.
'The passage of the Energy Bill through Parliament provides an excellent opportunity to highlight the dangers of CO poisoning and increase the number of CO alarms in buildings, with little extra disruption or cost to the owners,' commented Nigel Dumbrell of the Trust. 'The campaign has already attracted strong support of peers such as Baroness Finlay of Llandaff, Baroness Maddock and Lord O'Neill of Clackmannan, and has lead to a positive meeting with the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) officials.'