Safety Seymour is on a mission to recruit CO Safety Assistants to help rid homes of a dangerous threat…
And that threat is CO!
CO stands for Carbon Monoxide which is a poisonous gas…
You can’t hear it, you can’t taste it, you can’t see it, you can’t even smell it.
It is a poisonous, colourless, odourless and tasteless gas that’s difficult to detect.
Carbon Monoxide is created when fossil fuels, things like gas, oil, coal and wood, don’t burn properly.
This could be in a gas appliance like a boiler that heats your hot water and radiators (that’s pretty rad!) or a cooker hob, a blocked flue, chimney or vent, and even a disposable or gas BBQ.
When fossil fuels burn, they create flames that could give off Carbon Monoxide.
These flames can be found near any appliance in your home.
You obviously know that humans and other animals need to breathe oxygen to survive. Carbon Monoxide steals the oxygen in the air – so there’s less around for you!
That’s exactly we need to make sure it doesn’t get into our homes – or if it does, that it can escape outside instead of hanging around.
But if we can’t see it, hear it, smell it, taste it or touch it, how can we find it?
A carbon monoxide alarm is a bit like a smoke alarm, but instead of detecting smoke it detects Carbon Monoxide.
If you get a good Carbon Monoxide alarm, it will beep and let you know when there’s carbon monoxide around.
If you ever hear the alarm, tell an adult and leave the house until it has been checked by a Gas Safe Registered Engineer.