As those of you that follow our blog will already know, November 21st marks the start of Carbon Monoxide Awareness Week.
This year is the 11th anniversary of what is becoming an increasingly important seven days, and we want you to do as much as you can to help raise awareness and save lives.
Carbon Monoxide Awareness Week was started by CO Awareness – a registered charity that supports the many victims of Carbon Monoxide poisoning, their families and their friends.
The charity – headed by Lynn Griffiths – has made it their mission to campaign for changes in legislation to cover the manufacturing, installation and servicing of carbon burning fuel appliances and lobby both the government and the heating industry to improve safety and raise awareness.
And they do an outstanding job!
The work they undertake is hugely inspiring and we wanted to highlight it here and delve a little deeper into the dangers of CO poisoning – what to look for and how to make a difference – during this Carbon Monoxide Awareness Week.
Under-reported
According to a report by the US Environmental Protection Agency, Carbon Monoxide (CO) may be responsible for more than one-half of fatal unintentional poisonings reported across the globe every year.
FACT – IN 2004 THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANISATION (WHO) ESTIMATED THAT AROUND 350,000 PEOPLE DIED FROM UNINTENTIONAL POISONING
Fatal cases of CO poisoning are grossly under-reported and the symptoms are often misdiagnosed by medical professionals; therefore the precise number of people that have suffered from CO intoxication every year is not really known.
Information such as this – coupled with the fact that Lynn and her family suffered at the hands of unhelpful doctors and so-called specialists – is precisely what led to her forming the CO Awareness charity.
Lynn with her two eldest children, shortly after moving in to the house that caused so much damage to their lives
Lynn and her family were subjected to a range of incompetent and often ignorant processes that led to them suffering from various ailments for a number of years– each of which can be attributed to prolonged exposure to carbon monoxide gas.
Lynn’s history and experience of carbon monoxide poisoning is both inspiring and somewhat frightening.
From 1988 to 1999 – thanks to a blocked chimney flue that had remained undetected – Lynn and her family were exposed to carbon monoxide on a daily basis.
In the intervening years to 2005, Lynn made many contacts in the UK and America and in the process became aware of the dangers of CO poisoning.
Since that time Lynn has worked many long and unpaid hours as the President of Carbon Monoxide Awareness, in the hopes of changing the public perception of this deadly gas and lobbying the powers that be to make awareness of its effects a priority.
To discover more about Lynn’s story and why she founded CO Awareness week, please visit the charity’s web page.
Get Involved
Like I said, this is a pretty important week for the charity, anyone that has a carbon fuel burning appliance and for everyone involved in the plumbing and heating industry and beyond.
With that in mind, let’s have a look at why you should join together with other people, organisations and businesses in your local area to help raise awareness and what you can do to educate the masses about the dangers of the silent killer.
Some Quick Numbers
In the UK each year around 50 people lose their lives as a result of carbon monoxide poisoning and countless others will suffer various long term effects due to exposure to this deadly gas.
Hundreds more people will visit hospital for treatment, with large numbers not even making the trip as they often believe that their problems stem from some other source, like a virus or even a hangover – so getting involved, to educate yourself and others, could help to save lives and relieve suffering.
So what exactly can you do to get involved?
Well, firstly, you don’t have to be a big business player or have a huge social following to make a difference. Everybody can help to make a change!
If you have a webpage, blog, magazine or newsletter, why not update your carbon monoxide materials with the CO Awareness charity logo.
Use your social media channels to warn people of the dangers of carbon monoxide poisoning. Use the hashtag – #COAwarenessWeek
Perhaps you could hold an event in your local community that would engage people and educate them about the dangers of the silent killer.
You could raise funds for the charity by holding events like coffee mornings, car washes, cake stalls or raffles for example.
Remember that every little helps towards bringing the dangers of carbon monoxide to the attention of the wider public, so whatever you do will be worthwhile.
To help the charity directly, you can show your support by visiting their every click page.
Other ways to help raise CO awareness
As well as hashtagging and following on Facebook, Twitter and elsewhere, you can help to raise awareness of Carbon Monoxide by making use of the BestHeating carbon monoxide page – The Silent Killer.
To see the full animated version of this guide visit TheSilentKiller.co.uk
You can download the page and use it as an educational tool in your classroom or workplace and bring the dangers of this deadly gas to the attention of your classmates, students and work colleagues.
You could also share the page on social media using the #COAwarenessWeek hashtag and if you do have a website or blog on which you could embed the image of the silent killer page, make sure you do it and help to highlight carbon monoxide poisoning.
Education and awareness will go a long way to ensuring that the next generation of plumbers, heating engineers and gas fitters – as well as everybody else – have a better understanding of the dangers that carbon monoxide represents.
Carbon Monoxide Awareness Week begins on Monday 21st November and you can discover all about the charity, its events and history at www.covictim.org
So whatever you’re doing on the 21st of November, be sure to take a minute to read a bit about carbon monoxide – you never know, it might save your life!
Stay safe and Happy Heating!
