Personal injury solicitors Manchester
consider gas safety to be very important; occasionally, people come to visit a no
win no fee solicitor Manchester after they have been injured as a result of
poor gas safety. In the UK, the average year sees 50 people dying and 200
becoming seriously ill as a result of carbon monoxide poisoning.
But recent research by the AA's Home Emergency Response service found that many people could be putting themselves
at needless risk, with 42% of households failing to install a carbon monoxide
detector in their home and check it every year.
Carbon monoxide has no odour or taste,
which has led to it being dubbed 'the silent killer'. Poorly maintained gas
appliances are responsible for many of the injuries and deaths caused by this
gas.
As a result, personal injury solicitors
Manchester would strongly recommend that people install carbon monoxide
detectors in their houses, as this is the only way to tell whether carbon
monoxide is present. While the mains gas supply has an easily identifiable
odour, this is not the case with carbon monoxide, so an alarm is the best way
to alert people to its presence. All carbon monoxide alarms should have the
British Standards' Kitemark or a European equivalent approval mark, and should
be marked with EN 50291.
Furthermore, people should have their
boiler serviced by a Gas Safe registered engineer on an annual basis.
The first symptoms of carbon monoxide
poisoning are flu-like, including dizziness, nausea, tiredness, vomiting,
confusion, stomach pain and shortness of breath. However, while flu causes a
high temperature, carbon monoxide poisoning does not. When there is a high
concentration of this gas in the air, people can become unconscious very
quickly and can die within minutes.
While no win no fee solicitors Manchester
have seen that carbon monoxide poisoning can afflict all kinds of people,
pregnant women, babies, young children and people with respiratory or heart
problems are at a particularly higher risk and can be affected faster than others.
If you or a loved one has been affected by
carbon monoxide poisoning, you may be able to make a claim for compensation.
Contact personal injury solicitors Manchester for more information.
