Safety advice on Carbon Monoxide (CO)

What is Carbon Monoxide?

Carbon Monoxide is a poisonous gas that’s produced when fossil fuels such as gas, coal, oil or wood are burned without enough oxygen. It can sometimes be caused by bad ventilation or faulty appliances in your home. You can’t see it, smell it or taste it but it’s potentially fatal and even low levels of the poison can cause lasting damage to your health.

Warning signs – what to look out for

You can’t see carbon monoxide, but it’s easy to identify signs that indicate your gas or heating appliances could be producing it. Danger signs include:

Orange or yellow gas flames, gas flames should be blue
Sooty stains or discolouration on or around gas appliances
Increased levels of condensation in the room where the gas appliance is installed
Fumes or smoke in the house
Slower than usual burning of solid fuel fires

Recognising the early symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning could save your life. The symptoms are similar to the flu and include:

Headaches
Drowsiness
Visual problems
Dry throat
Nausea
Vomiting

If you experience these symptoms but feel better when you’re outside or away from your home, it’s possible that you’re suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning.

If Carbon Monoxide is in your home

Make sure the faulty appliance is switched off (do not use it again until it has been inspected/repaired by a Gas Safe Register™ engineer).
Switch off your gas supply by the control valve. This is done by pulling the handle at the side of your meter 90 degrees, so that it’s at a right angle to your pipe.
Open all doors and windows to ventilate the room.
Phone the national Gas Emergency Number on 0800 111 999.
Visit your doctor urgently and explain your symptoms may be related to CO poisoning and request a blood and/or breath sample is taken.

If someone is seriously ill from poisoning it’s vital that they leave the room and get fresh air. They should be kept comfortable, avoiding exertion, and you should call for medical help urgently. Make sure that when help arrives you tell them you suspect Carbon Monoxide poisoning. This will ensure that appropriate treatment is given as soon as possible.

Action you can take to prevent it

Always make sure you have enough fresh air in the room.
Ensure chimneys and flues aren’t blocked up and air vents aren’t covered.
Make sure your gas appliances are serviced regularly by a Gas Safe Register™ engineer.
Buy an audible Carbon Monoxide detector.

Carbon Monoxide Consumer Awareness Alliance (COCAA)

The aim of COCAA is to raise awareness of the dangers of carbon monoxide through a high profile campaign involving all interested parties, including the Government.

The Carbon Monoxide – Be Alarmed! Campaign by COCAA is supported by victims’ charities, professional organisations and energy companies. Visit the Carbon Monoxide – Be Alarmed website for further information about the campaign and about how to stay safe.

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Gas Safe Register™ / CORGI

From 1 April 2009, the CORGI registration scheme has been replaced by a new registration scheme called Gas Safe Register™. By law, gas engineers must be registered on the Gas Safe Register™ to be able to work on gas installations. You can be reassured that all of our gas engineers are Gas Safe Register™ engineers.

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