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• Our responsibility for gas safety
• Carbon monoxide
• Who is at risk?
• How can you help prevent it?
• Contacts

If you smell gas, follow these simple steps:

• Turn off the gas supply immediately. The main gas on/off control is next to your gas meter.
• Do not smoke or use naked flames such as matches.
• Do not turn any electric switches on or off as they can ignite gas.
• Once the meter is off, open all windows and doors to allow the gas to escape.
• Ring Transco immediately and report a gas leak.
  • Contacts

If you smell gas, act immediately and contact Transco. Do not call our repairs number as this could delay action. The gas could be leaking from pipes outside the house which we are not allowed to deal with.

• Contacts

Our responsibility for gas safety

We must carry out an annual gas safety check on all properties where we have installed gas appliances.

We will tell you seven days in advance that we need to gain access to your property so please make sure we can get in. If you don't give us access, we can get a court order and force entry into your home to carry out these tests. You can be evicted if you continue to refuse to let us in.

It is illegal to allow any unqualified worker to fit or repair gas appliances in your home. Faulty appliances can kill.

If you wish to fit a new gas appliance, the gas fitter must be CORGI registered. When we carry out our annual safety check, if any of your own appliances are unsafe or faulty, we will disconnect the appliance.

Carbon monoxide

Kirklees has more incidents of carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning than almost anywhere else in the country.

KNH safeguards the safety of tenants by carrying out regular safety checks, but you can also help protect yourself and your family by being CO-aware.

Any carbon-based fuel can cause carbon monoxide poisoning. Gas stoves, fires, heating boilers, gas-powered water heaters, paraffin heaters, oil and solid fuel heating systems are all potential sources of carbon monoxide.

It becomes a problem when the appliances don't work properly or aren't well ventilated. And although older terraced houses are more likely to be at risk because the flues and chimneys may not be in good condition, the problem can also affect newer homes.

Signs of carbon monoxide leakage include soot staining or condensation and burning with yellow flames.

Who is at risk?

Children, pregnant women, babies, and people with a heart condition are those at most risk - but carbon monoxide poisoning can affect anyone.

Symptoms can include:

• Headache / vision changes
• Drowsiness / tiredness
• Flu-like symptoms / muscle aches
• Shortness of breath / difficulty breathing
• Rapid pulse
• Dizziness / fainting
• Weakness
• Emotional changes / confusion / poor judgment
• Clumsiness
• Nausea, vomiting / diarrhoea
• Chest pain
• Bluish discoloration of the skin and nails.

If you or anyone in your family is experiencing any of these symptoms, talk to your doctor straight away.

How can you help prevent it?

There are a number of steps that people can take to help protect themselves from the dangers of carbon monoxide poisoning - and they cost only pennies a day.

1. Make sure you get your gas appliances serviced regularly by a CORGI-registerd engineer. Gas appliances are the biggest culprit and should be checked and maintained every year.
   • If you are a council tenant, this will be done automatically - but it's very important that you let the engineers in to do the work.
   • If you're a private tenant, your landlord has a legal duty to get all gas appliances safety checked. If this hasn't been done in 12 months, contact your landlord or call the Health & Safety Executive's Gas Safety section if he/she refuses.
     • Contacts
   • If you are a home owner, you will find a list of CORGI-registered gas installers in the Yellow Pages - or you can call the CORGI helpline to find your nearest supplier. The cost of a safety check starts at around £40, depending on your appliances and the supplier.
     • Contacts
2. Even if you have your appliances checked and serviced, it's important to keep your home well ventilated - never be tempted to block up airbricks and even in the winter, open the windows regularly.
3. Buy a carbon monoxide detector and alarm, available from most supermarkets and DIY stores. In order to be effective, they must meet safety standards EN50291 (European) and BS7860 (British). These cost around £20 but they last for several years. Some of the cheaper detectors, for example the kind that change colour, aren't reliable so don't be tempted to cut corners.
4. If you think carbon monoxide is in your home, turn off gas appliances and seek medical attention immediately. Get a CORGI installer to check your appliances before you turn them back on. Or ring Transco to turn off the gas. Ring a doctor if you feel unwell.
   • Contacts

Contacts

• CORGI helpline
  Tel: 0800 915 0485
• Health & Safety Executive's Gas Safety section
  Tel: 0800 300 363
• Transco
  Tel: 0800 111 999
  Textphone for the deaf and hard of hearing: 0800 371 787

Other websites

• CORGI - Carbon Monoxide Kills