A story line in Coronation Street has been praised thanks to their efforts in raising the awareness of the Gas Safety Register. The storyline was created with the help of the Gas Safety Register and was designed to help to show the risks of unqualified people from working on gas installations and appliances. It is hoped that Coronation Street will remind people about the dangers that come with gas work, such as carbon monoxide poisoning. When homes are using heating more frequently because of the weather it is worth pointing out the importance of suitable and competent maintenance.

Popular Character Found Collapsed on New Year’s Eve

The story focuses on Fiz Brown, a popular character in the ITV soap. Fiz will become overcome by Carbon Monoxide due to a faulty gas boiler in her home. Tyrone, a second character fixed he boiler when it was broken and could face prosecution as it turns out he isn’t registered on the Gas Safety Register. Anyone working on gas appliances must be registered with the GSR although many people are not aware that they should check the suitability of the engineers they call out to the property.

Gas Safety Awareness

Every year there are approximately a quarter of a million illegal jobs performed on gas appliances in the UK. Although money might be tight at this time of year it’s important to pay out for a Gas Safe Registered person to come to your home. Carbon monoxide is deadly and known as a silent killer as it has no smell and no taste. Many people can often mistake the symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning as a general illness such as a cold or flu and not realise that they are in fact being poisoned. Sadly, unlike the character in Coronation Street many people lose their lives because of the unsafe gas appliances.

ITV will hopefully raise awareness for the Gas Safety Register campaign and remind home and business owners to have their gas appliances checked by a competent person.  You can avoid problems and the dangers by following these simple tips:

• Always check your engineer is on the Gas Safe Register
• Check your gas appliances and have them serviced regularly
• Look out for the symptoms of CO poisoning, which are: nausea, dizziness, breathlessness, loss of consciousness, headaches and collapsing.
• By a carbon monoxide alarm that will give an audio alert if it detects carbon monoxide in your home

If you are concerned about your gas appliances or installations at work you can contact the health and safety consultants to discover more about your responsibilities as an employer. Call us on 0800 1488 677 to learn more about our health and safety services.