Do you know how to keep your family safe at home?

We can see many dangers around our homes: hot taps; pans; cookers; water; stairs; cleaning products…and yes even LEGO but there is one home danger we can’t see or even smell – Carbon Monoxide.

Gas Safety Week is an annual safety week to raise awareness of gas safety across the UK. It is co-ordinated by Gas Safe Register with support from the gas industry including retailers, manufacturers, consumer bodies and the public.

Every year in the UK, more than 200 people go to hospital with suspected carbon monoxide poisoning, and around 40 people die. Small children and the elderly are most at risk, so CORGI HomePlan is campaigning for every home to get a carbon monoxide detector, so that they can keep their family safe.

Carbon monoxide is a colourless, odourless and tasteless gas and, as such, it is very difficult to detect and can easily be inhaled without you realising. Being exposed to high concentration levels can be fatal or cause several other long-term health problems such as brain damage.

The most common cause of a carbon monoxide leak is from incorrectly installed or poorly maintained household appliances – such as cookers, heaters and central heating boilers. A blocked flue or chimney can also cause carbon monoxide levels to rise to lethal concentrations in an enclosed space.

There are several warning signs in your home that could mean you have a carbon monoxide issue. Here are a few things to look out for:

• The flame on your cooker should be crisp and blue. Yellow or orange flames mean you need to get your cooker checked
• Dark staining around or on appliances
• Sooty marks on the walls around boilers, stoves or the cover of gas fires
• Pilot lights that frequently go out
• Increased condensation inside windows

Being aware of the symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning could save your life. Here are the main six symptoms to look out for:

• Headaches
• Dizziness
• Nausea
• Breathlessness
• Collapse
• Loss of consciousness

These symptoms are very easy to mistake for flu, food poisoning, viral infections and simply tiredness, but carbon monoxide is potentially far more dangerous. If your symptoms only occur at home and they disappear or get better when you leave home then this may indicate a carbon monoxide leak.

Do you have a carbon monoxide detector at home? If not we are giving one Mummy Fever reader the chance to win one here – just enter below. Good luck and stay safe.

Win a carbon monoxide detector