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As winter approaches and central heating boilers switch on throughout the UK, now is the opportune moment to look at the state of gas safety across the nation and discuss the practical steps everyone can take to prevent incidents related to gas leaks, fire and carbon monoxide poisoning.

Introduced in April 2013, Technical Bulletin 143 from the Heating and Hotwater Industry Council (HHIC) outlines a safer procedure for commissioning condensing boilers without air/gas ratio valves. Following a small number of carbon monoxide poisoning incidents involving newly commissioned units, the HHIC, boiler manufacturers and other industry bodies have worked together to produce a new testing procedure that is clear, safe and comprehensive.

In a recent online poll of 2000 people from OnePoll on behalf of the Gas Safety Trust, only 13% of those questioned were able to identify the main symptoms and characteristics of carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning.

Carbon monoxide CO is a killer gas that can strike without warning to both humans and pets it’s also odourless, tasteless and colourless so it can be hard to detect by human senses alone. Every year in the UK people of all ages die or suffer from carbon monoxide poisoning. Some have even suffered brain damage and paralysis although this is most likely if the individual has breathed in CO over a long period.

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