During Carbon Monoxide Awareness Week 2022, we’ve teamed up with Gas Safe Charity’s Think CO team, and some of our charity and support partners to reach communities in Fife, Cambuslang, and Aberdeen to educate people from organisations providing frontline support to vulnerable households on how they can help keep themselves and those they work with safe from the dangers of carbon monoxide (CO).
The free workshops will be attended by 160 members from local support organisations, where they will learn about the dangers of CO and how to identify and prevent CO poisoning, as well as hearing from our engineers about our emergency response and some of their personal experiences when attending CO related call outs.
A number of our Scotland support partners (Age Scotland, Citizens Advice Scotland, Greener Kirkcaldy, Scottish Fire & Rescue, and SP Energy Networks) are also speaking at the workshops to provide important information about fire safety, unsafe heating practices, the Priority Services Register, and other support available to empower the frontline workers who attend to ensure those most affected by the cost-of-living crisis and rising energy bills have the support they need to stay safe and warm at home this winter.
SGN's Paul Mitchell and Margaret Hamilton
Linda Spence, Vulnerability Manager Scotland, said: “We’re delighted to have been joined by a number of our partners this week to help educate so many frontline organisations and their employees on these important topics, helping to keep many more people in Scotland safe and warm.
“CO is often referred to as the ‘silent killer’ because you can’t see, hear, taste or smell, and is produced by the incomplete burning of fossil fuels such as gas, oil, and coal. This is why it’s important everyone has their gas appliances checked each year by a Gas Safe Registered Engineer – so they can make sure everything’s working as it should.
Our people with our Scotland support partners
Symptoms of CO poisoning are very flu-like (nausea, headaches, dizziness, tiredness, breathlessness), which is why it’s essential to have a CO alarm installed in the home near to any gas appliances, and regularly test to check it’s still working properly. An alarm really could save lives.