Member Article

Ignite Gas Care welcomes new rental safety crackdown

PLANS to close a loophole that places thousands of people at risk of carbon monoxide poisoning across the county have been welcomed by Yorkshire home safety specialists.

Ignite Gas Care, based between Leeds and Bradford at Rawdon, said the move was “long awaited and much needed”.

It would further drive up safety standards at a time when the number of private rented properties in Yorkshire was at a record high – and rising.

It is already compulsory for landlords to protect their tenants by installing carbon monoxide monitors in any room that houses coal or wood-burning fires and stoves.

Current guidance also recommends that tenants test these alarms, ideally monthly.

Now the law is set to be extended to cover all forms of heating - including mains gas, oil and LPG – after the Government announced a safety review.

Ignite’s managing director, Jon Oldroyd, said: “We are working with more and more landlords and letting agents to ensure Yorkshire’s rental properties are among the safest in the UK.

“The idea of safeguarding all tenants by making carbon monoxide detectors mandatory, however their home is heated, represents a major step-change – one that is long-awaited and much-needed.

“By shutting the door on the current safety loophole, it would end the carbon monoxide lottery that exists in Yorkshire and elsewhere. The rules at the moment are confusing, inconsistent, and no longer fit for purpose.”

Carbon monoxide is dubbed “the silent killer” because it is a poisonous gas that is colourless, odourless and tasteless.

Research shows that 30 people a year die from carbon monoxide poisoning and as many as 4,000 people are hospitalised – yet 58% of the population admit they would not know how to spot a leak.

Since launching six years ago, Ignite has grown into team of more than 20, and last year expanded from its launch base in Horsforth to new headquarters in Rawdon.

Awarded SafeContractor status, its engineers have carried out across Yorkshire alone pmore than 20,000 gas safety checks, 10,000 gas appliance services, 6,000 boiler repairs, 4,000 Legionella risk assessments and 4,000 PAT electrical tests – as well as attending 12,000 call-outs.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by richard chew .