What can’t you smell, see or taste but is highly dangerous!? Carbon monoxide can kill swiftly without any warning and around 40 people every year die from poisoning caused by faulty, poorly maintained or poorly insulated gas appliances and chimneys. Serious damage can be done to your health even if levels aren’t high enough to kill. More than 200 people every year are admitted to hospital with suspected poisoning. Prolonged exposure to carbon monoxide can cause brain damage or even paralysis.
The 16th-22nd November is Carbon Monoxide Awareness Week and we’re hoping that by increasing public knowledge and understanding of this deadly gas, we can all start to take better precautions to help reduce the risk of suffering at its silent hands.
Any appliance that can burn fossil fuels, including oil, wood, coal, gas, please make sure it is maintained and serviced regularly. If you have a chimney please make sure it is well swept.
Other signs to look out for: pilot lights that regularly blow out, soot or yellow/brown staining around or on appliances, increased condensation inside windows.
Carbon monoxide detectors can be bought easily and are not very expensive. Small children and the elderly are the most at risk, but it can affect everyone. They really should be as important in every household as a smoke detector. In fact id go as far as to say they slightly more important, because carbon monoxide has no tell tale signs such as a smell, or visual signs.
CORGI HomePlan is campaigning for every home to have a carbon monoxide detector to help keep their family safe. Please visit the CORGI HomePlan blog to find out more about Carbon Monoxide Awareness Week, signs and symptoms and prevention and safety tips. There’s also a chance to win your own carbon monoxide detector.
Do you already have a detector? Will you be getting one?
Mrs H xxx
*Disclaimer – I may be sent a detector for participating in Carbon Monoxide Awareness Week. Content is my own.
The Herniman House 
We haven’t got a detector but it’s definitely something I worry about seeing as there are no signs. I didn’t realise that pilot lights that regularly blow out is a sign. x
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We used to have a detector but like most things when it broke we didn’t get it replaced! On my must do list.
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We wrote about this at the beginning of the year, definitely something that needs talking about, so many signs that many aren’t aware of
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This is such an important campaign. We have a detector – a fellow journalist I kind of knew from an online journalism forum sadly died from carbon monoxide poisoning several years ago. Her parents have done so much campaigning to raise awareness. I went out and bought one the day I heard. x
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We have two in our house as when I was a student living in Edinburgh I nearly died when a faulty gas radiator started leaking – I ended up on Oxygen in hospital and never want to go through that again
Laura x
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