Home Local News HomeServe Wigan backs national Gas Safety Week

HomeServe Wigan backs national Gas Safety Week

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Local heating firm encourages residents to check on vulnerable and elderly community members and to ensure a Gas Safe registered engineer checks their boilers and other gas appliances

A Wigan-based heating firm is encouraging homeowners across the region to give their gas appliances an annual safety check this week in support of a national awareness campaign.

HomeServe Wigan is backing the sixth annual Gas Safety Week (19-25 September 2016) by urging local residents to ensure a Gas Safe registered engineer has inspected their boilers and other gas-powered appliances.

This year’s awareness campaign is also encouraging the public to reach out to vulnerable or elderly community members, friends and family to help keep them safe from poorly maintained gas appliances that could pose a potential risk.

Phillip Crosby, Managing Director of HomeServe Wigan, said: “We’re proud to be supporting Gas Safety Week this year and want to do our bit to raise awareness of gas safety issues for the residents of Wigan. There are some simple steps that homeowners can take to ensure they’re staying gas safe at home but we’d always encourage people to have their gas appliances checked once a year by an engineer that is registered with the official gas authority, Gas Safe Register.”

By law, only Gas Safe registered engineers like those at HomeServe Wigan can work on gas appliances. According to Gas Safe Register, every year an estimated quarter of a million illegal gas jobs are carried out by unregistered workers that do not have the skills or the qualifications to do the job safely.

Jonathan Samuel, managing director for Gas Safe Register, said: “We know from our own investigations that around one in six gas appliances in the UK are unsafe1, meaning far too many people are victims of preventable gas related incidents.”

“It’s great to have the support of HomeServe Wigan this Gas Safety Week. By working together, we can raise further awareness of gas safety, to help reduce the number of dangerous gas appliances that could be lurking in people’s homes.”

Reach out to those who need help keeping gas safe at home by following these top tips:

* Help them to sign up to a free annual gas safety check reminder service at www.staygassafe.co.uk. You could even sign up on their behalf, so the reminder is sent to you each year

Make them aware of the signs that an unsafe gas appliance could cause:

* A lazy yellow flame instead of a crisp blue flame; soot or staining on or around the appliance; excess condensation in the room
* Carbon monoxide (CO) has no smell, taste or colour. The symptoms of CO poisoning include headaches, dizziness, nausea, breathlessness, collapse and loss of consciousness, which can easily be mistaken for something else – encourage those you know to get a carbon monoxide detector
* Make sure they know to ‘Trust the Triangle’ by asking to see their engineer’s Gas Safe ID card and checking it to make sure the engineer is covered to check or fit the appliance in question.

HomeServe Wigan offers a range of domestic services including boiler installations www.homeservewigan.co.uk/services/boiler-installation-and-replacement, boiler servicing www.homeservewigan.co.uk/services/boiler-service, boiler repairs, emergency boiler repairs, power flushing, appliance services and smart thermostat installations www.homeservewigan.co.uk/services/smart-thermostat-installation. Visit www.homeservewigan.co.uk for more information.

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