Learn About Poisoning

Before any house or any members of the household are exposed to carbon monoxide, each home should consider prevention.

The first step to helping to prevent CO poisoning is to ensure the proper installation of a sensor that meets the appropriate standards.

Ensure that a gas safe engineer services all of your fuel burning appliances on a regular basis. This is especially important during the onset of the cold season when those appliances are being used for the first time in a while.

When replacing or updating any fuel burning appliances, try to get those that vent their fumes to the outside of the building. This can help reduce the risk of the long term effects CO poisoning but is not an excuse not to get the appliance serviced or not to have any sort of alarm. Even appliances that vent their fumes to outside can suffer from problems that can lead to CO poisoning.

Ensure manufacturers instructions are followed upon the installation of appliances are correct ventilation is applied where necessary.

If you do not have a CO alarm, look out for any symptoms. These could be flu like symptoms, persistent headaches or sickness. If more than one person in the house has similar symptoms, then have your appliances check by a professional or get a sensor and think about some treatment at the hospital.

If you have a garage which you park your car in, don’t let it idle for long periods of time as the exhaust will produce co gas and this can spread around the house.

Do not sleep in any room with a working appliance. The only exception might be where a room sealed boiler is in a cupboard which flues to the outside. Of course, an alarm is a must in this situation.