Council of Gas Detection and Environmental Monitoring

CoGDEM (UK) is the Council of Gas Detection and Environmental Monitoring, a trade association with a membership of over fifty companies involved in the gas detection industry. We are pleased to have ETP (the publishers of this IET magazine) as an Associate Member, so we now place a regular column of news from the gas detection industry in IET magazine.

Carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning incidents in domestic environments tend to peak in the cold winter months when heating appliances are working hard and home ventilation is minimised. The US and Canada have seen high levels of CO fatalities due to the extreme cold that has been experienced in the last few months, whereas the UK’s winter temperatures have been significantly milder than in usual winters. However, storm winds and severe rainfall in the UK has been directly responsible for at least three CO-related deaths in 2014 from the use of petrol-powered portable generators and pumps, located inappropriately indoors. The lack of CO alarm instruments was noted by the investigating authorities in their preliminary findings. 

Similarly, the investigation into a double fatality on a working fishing boat moored in Whitby harbour in mid-January 2014 has found that carbon monoxide from a cooking appliance being used inappropriately as a heating device killed two sleeping workers overnight. There was no gas detection equipment in use, and this point is likely to be identified in a formal report later this year. The boat would be classed as a workplace, so it is likely that non-domestic CO detectors should have been fitted to protect the workers.

A common factor in all of the CO incidents described above was the attendance of the Fire & Rescue Services. They commonly use multigas portable instruments and will carry (or wear) these into confined spaces where victims need to be recovered. Often it is the FRS’s instrument which first identifies the presence of the toxic gas and gives a clue as to the reason for the victim’s predicament. Fire & Rescue Service personnel have to be protected themselves, and it has also become more common for them to carry single channel CO instruments as a matter of course. The Chief Fire Officers Association (CFOA) has recognised the benefits of such safety equipment and also set up a means for consumers and landlords to purchase CO alarms through their ‘Blue Watch’ scheme. CoGDEM now participates in CFOA’s Advisory Forum so that best-practice can be communicated both ways.

One reason for CO poisoning incidents can be the faulty installation of heating appliances such as central heating boilers. From 1st April 2014 the use of Flue Gas Analysers (FGAs) to check the efficiency and safety of newly installed gas-fired boilers has become mandatory in the UK. These instruments can measure the level of carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO2) and oxygen (O2) in the flue of newly installed domestic or commercial boilers, as well as calculating the ratio of CO to CO2 which is a measure of combustion efficiency. CoGDEM has embarked on an advertising campaign to ensure that heating engineers are aware of this new requirement.