Please find below press releases issued by Detectagas Ltd. For further information denise@owlpr.co.uk
New Statutory Requirements for CO Alarm Safety
Welcomed: September 2011
A decision by the All Party Parliamentary Gas Safety
Group and Greg Baker MP, Minister of State for Climate Change to make
fitting CO alarms a statutory requirement in every ‘at risk' home - and
insist on regular functionality checks - has been welcomed at Gas
Safe Europe Ltd.
Gas Safe's John Stones, inventor of the company's Detectagas
product, has campaigned for more than 15 years to make these vital sensor
checks a requirement and believes it is a move that will save lives.
The UK All Party Group's decision arrived shortly before a
new report from the American Journal of Public Health which points to the scale
of the risk posed by faulty CO alarms in the States. The report records
unprecedented levels of residential carbon monoxide failure rates in the US
where there are more than 38 million alarms installed.
Talking about testing in the UK and the US John Stones
said: "Currently many alarms are sold with guarantees of up to seven
years. The alarms feature test buttons, but they don't measure the
viability of the gas sensor - the most critical element. These units'
test buttons merely register that the circuit is functioning and the battery is
still live; that means a gas detection sensor can fail at any time - unnoticed.
"For years this has given a false indication of
safety. Our own recent testing of CO alarms in a number of social housing
facilities has revealed significant detector failure levels. Our checks
at one housing association found that 20% of the CO alarms installed
only last year failed to sense CO. In another location we found that 50% of a
housing association's newly installed alarms were not sensing gas despite the
units passing the battery test. The good news is that all have now been
replaced without quibble and free of charge by the alarm manufacturers.
"This is something I have been campaigning for, and
genuinely worried about, for more than 15 years. Given that we
produce a CO alarm sensor testing product it's understandable that we would
welcome the Group's decision. However, that doesn't mean the threat
hasn't been real, widespread and, until now, largely ignored.
"The All Party Parliamentary Gas Safety Group is to be
congratulated on its enlightened thinking. It is ensuring people are
protected by having an alarm fitted and guaranteeing regular checks on the
sensors - as well as the batteries and circuitry - of CO alarms. That's
got to be good news."
In America there are around 450 deaths each year attributed
to unintentional carbon monoxide poisoning and a further 15,000 related
hospital emergency visits. A new report suggests that around half of
the CO alarms subjected to testing failed to function properly.
Multi award winning product Detectagas, as the name
suggests, tests the viability of the alarm's sensor simply and inexpensively
using a harmless spray of gas from a Detectagas aerosol.
The UK decision, marking a long overdue change to practical
testing of alarm units, was announced after a meeting between Barry Sheerman
MP, Co Chair of the All Parliamentary Gas Safety Group, and Greg Barker MP,
Minister of State for Climate Change and the changes have been embraced as part
of the Green Deal. Mr Sheerman led a delegation of charity and gas
industry experts, including representatives from the Gas Safety Trust, the Gas
Industry Safety Group, The Council of Gas Detection and Environmental
Monitoring, and industry representatives.
Mr Stones added: "We would urge testing to begin as
soon as possible. Increased energy efficiency measures in homes can lead to
lower levels of ventilation and, consequently, a higher risk of carbon monoxide
poisoning.
"There is no doubt that CO alarms saves lives but only if
they are sensing gas. Sensor inclusive testing of CO alarms becomes law
in the USA from January 1st 2012 and we would push for early adoption of
stringent safety checks in the UK.
"We estimate that 18 million CO alarms have been sold in the
UK since the publication of the British Standard in 1996 and that half of these
are beyond their expected sensor life. As sales increase, the problem
will compound, so these new requirements need to be adopted quickly."
