Press Releases

PTS Heads Merchant Carbon Monoxide Awareness Campaign

10 January 2008

PTS is spearheading a ‘Carbon Monoxide Awareness' Campaign by inviting national merchants to join them in creating posters and information packs to reach installers within their branch networks. The campaign will run from Monday 14th January until Friday 19th January 2008.

Alan Ball, Managing Director of the leading supplier of heating and plumbing supplies, is calling on merchants and installers to take action and communicate the inherent dangers of CO poisoning to homeowners. PTS has liaised with other merchants to create a standard poster and information pack to raise awareness of the deaths caused by illegal installation and poor maintenance of boilers, fires and other gas appliances.

Mr Ball, said: "It is startling to think that the majority of deaths from Carbon Monoxide could be avoided, making education the key factor in preventing these tragedies. Since I joined CORGI as a member of the trust, I felt it was important that we made the first step in raising awareness at trade counters across the UK. I wrote to the Managing Directors of other Merchants because I believe a co-ordinated approach will have a much bigger impact. Hopefully our campaign week will be just the start of targeting this problem and encouraging the installer to be aware of these issues when talking to homeowners."

Last year 42 people died and 177 suffered injuries from Carbon Monoxide poisoning. Symptoms include severe headaches, chest or stomach pains, drowsiness, nausea, dizziness, general lethargy. Signs which can often be mistaken for other illnesses or ignored with fatal consequences.