Stay safe from Carbon Monoxide

What is Carbon Monoxide?

Carbon Monoxide (CO) is a poisonous gas that can make you seriously ill if you breathe it in. It is produced by the incomplete burning of fossil fuels (including gas, oil, wood, petrol and coal). You can not see, smell or taste it.

How to stay safe

A simple way to stay safe at home is to have a Carbon Monoxide detector in any room with a fuel-burning appliance such as a boiler, stove and oven. Detectors will sound an alarm if Carbon Monoxide is detected. Specialist alarms that use light and vibration alerts are available where an audible alarm might not be suitable. Follow the manufacturer guidance included with your detector for the best detection of Carbon Monoxide in your home.

Carbon Monoxide alarms are a simple way to get early warning of the risk of carbon monoxide to helping you stay safe at home. We can provide carbon monoxide alarms as part of Warm Home Prescription.

Symptoms of Carbon Monoxide poisoning include:

• Headaches
• Nausea (feeling sick or being sick)
• Dizziness
• Shortness of breath
• Collapsing
• Loss of consciousness

If you are experiencing these symptoms at home but they disappear when you are away from home or your carbon monoxide alarm sounds you should:

• Let in fresh air by opening windows and doors
• Move everyone to fresh air
• Get medical advice as soon as possible
• Call the Gas Emergency Service on 0800 111 999 or via textphone (minicom) on 0800 371 787. If you’re a British Sign Language (BSL) user, you can use SignLive to contact the National Gas Emergency Service free of charge.

Call 999 or go to A&E if:

• You are finding it hard to breathe
• You suddenly become confused
• Someone loses consciousness

Find your nearest A&E here