| CO-Gas Safety The Carbon Monoxide and Gas Safety Society |
| Business Review |
| for the year ended 31 July 2025 |
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| Review of the year from August 2024 to end of July 2025 |
| Continued to try to help support families, victims/survivors. |
| Continued to learn from incidents and put forward suggestions for prevention to industry and government. |
| Concerned by gas explosions which had caused deaths. |
| Aug-24 |
| Tried to get in touch with family – explosion and family left with nothing – lost child aged 4. |
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| Wrote to Laura O’Toole. https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1931934/Family-of-girl-killed-in-gas-blast-left-homeless |
| Wrote to Dan Edwards SGN re https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1931934/Family-of-girl-killed-in-gas-blast-left-homeless We’d like to be put in touch with the family. |
| Wrote to Gaelan and Lavanya of APPCOG re media updates sent on – Mallorca. Surely body doing what CO-Gas Safety tries to do on a shoestring should be properly set up and funded? |
| Sent to Work group and film of Cathy and Jordon being interviewed. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuB01iSMD68 which we reported and put on the website https://www.co-gassafety.co.uk/2024/08/ |
| Wrote to Gaelan of APPCOG re CO alarms being sold on Amazon – were they genuine EN 50291? He responded to say it was E Bay that Baroness Finlay had done some work on – not Amazon. |
| Sent New Scientist an email re ageing and muscle wasting in space – has anyone looked at the effects of the air breathed in space and the toxins? |
| Sent survivor ‘Current treatment options for carbon monoxide-induced neurological dysfunction’. https://www.academia.edu/122217401/Current_treatment_options_for_carbon_monoxide_induced_neurological_dysfunction?email_work_card=title Symptoms similar but don’t know if RG has low blood pressure. |
| Wrote to Ofgem re ECO – what does it stand for? Response was: - |
| ‘The Energy Company Obligation (ECO) is a government energy efficiency scheme in Great Britain designed to tackle fuel poverty and help reduce carbon emissions. The ECO scheme works by placing a Home Heating Cost Reduction Obligation (HHCRO) on medium and large energy suppliers to deliver energy-saving measures at consumers’ homes. |
| Under HHCRO, obligated suppliers must promote measures that improve the ability of low-income, fuel-poor and vulnerable households to heat their homes. This includes actions that result in reduced energy usage, such as installing insulation or upgrading a heating system. |
| Energy companies work with third party installers to deliver these obligations and it is up to the energy companies to determine which measures they choose to fund, the level of funding they provide the installers they choose to work with.’ Very interesting. Responded with a thank you and also asked ‘please tell us how many homes are eligible & how many are updated annually?’ |
| Heard good CO warning on Greatest Hits Radio. Not CO monitor but alarm brought by the Gas Distribution Networks. Very well done. Sent email to Phil Burrows, Dan Edwards, Paisley Henderson and Stephanie Ord about this and said very well done. |
| Received notification from Ofgem on a vulnerability summit with speakers from charities etc but no invitation to us to speak. |
| Read media alerts about charcoal stove in Africa being hailed as preventing illness etc. Wrote to Musembi.nyengu@radioafricagroup.co.ke but it bounced back so wrote to him on X asking him to email me. |
| Filing and found email from HSE, Olivia Jury. Looked up Gas Safe Register and fumes investigation definition but seems it is narrower not broader. Haven’t sent another email as seem to be forbidden to do so. |
| Sent Stephanie Ord, Phil Burrows, Paisley Henderson and Dan Edwards form partially filled in and idea for a warning film based on the Hardest Day. |
| Sent email to David McCrone of Ofgem in response to his email. ‘Thank you very much for your response 09.08.24 to our email sent 29.07.24, attached for reference. |
| Thank you also very much indeed for acknowledging the danger that CO can’t be seen visually and the need to upskill engineers, possibly supported by VCMA funding. In our opinion this would be fantastically helpful. Please ensure survivor/victim & medics receive PPM of CO in writing/digitally and that the emitting appliance is cut off. This is vital for |
| 1. Safety – to ensure the unsafe appliance is cut off leaving the safe appliances on. |
| Highly experienced engineers say that CO can be emitted with no visual signs at all and the only way to be certain is to test. |
| 2. To ensuring that any CO is found in PPM for data which the GDNs tell us is being collected and collated. |
| It would be such a waste of resources, if this is not being done properly from the start. |
| 3. To combat the belief amongst medics that CO is so rare, most medics dismiss CO when diagnosing. |
| Thank you also for recognising the distinction between CO alarms and monitors - great to know you will take this into account when next updating VCMA governance documents and encourage GDNs to follow. |
| Please emphasise the importance of purchasing a CO alarm to BS EN 50291 directly from the manufacturer or reputable retailer then remove alarm from packaging and pull tab to connect battery - in our opinion and experience, far more important than where to put the alarm. |
| We reached this conclusion from studying our data of deaths from unintentional CO since 1995, obtained from extremely helpful Coroners and/or their officers, and from many years talking to consumers, victims, families etc, giving out alarms then checking afterwards. It was heartbreaking that Katie Haines, aged 31 died in 2010 with a CO alarm still in its unopened package. |
| We agree we should address our concerns about the Showcase event to NGN, but did you see our questions which were generally not seen by the other participants? We have now been sent the questions and responses, which is helpful but could have stimulated discussion, if shown to all during the event. |
| We note no response to the lack of a properly funded body to represent survivors/victims and families re CO and explosion etc. CO-Gas Safety is run almost completely by volunteers either over pensioner age or survivors/victims/family members and cannot and should not continue much longer. |
| Yet there is a huge need to educate about CO and to end gaps in the system - as well as deserving help and support, victims/survivors/families are a key research resource which is not being properly used. We are concerned, although we have much knowledge from victims/survivors and families, it does not receive the respect it deserves; indeed, many people in the gas industry are woefully lacking in information about CO. |
| Finally, do you know if anyone from HSE attended this showcase event? |
| Thank you again David for attending this event and for your helpful emails.’ |
| Wrote to Kate Ravenscroft re SIA and the data and reminding her that Emily from SIA had gone on maternity leave and we’d asked for months if not years, what fields were being collected. |
| Wrote to Hilary Wareing of IPIP to congratulate her on hugely reduced rates of smoking amongst pregnant women and put same on twitter/x and also Facebook. |
| Phoned Sue Westwood and we caught up on lots of things. Discussed the check on CO alarms, the talk at JMLU in October, the two unis at Liverpool – uni and JMLU and if her son Josh could get his fellow medical students to attend talk on CO. |
| Wrote to Jonathan Brearley re speakers at Ofgem’s Vulnerability Summit. |
| Responded to Hilary Wareing’s response and said what was needed was for GPs to be able to order free tests for CO – hope this is what HW is alluding to? |
| Need all RGEs to have mandatory duty to test for CO whenever practicable. Sadly, not there yet. But thank you. |
| Sent work group transcript of talk by Dr Shepherd – shame he doesn’t consider the possibility that viruses and poisons can all affect the mitochondria in a similar way. |
| Sent Jonathan Kane article Global regional and national mortality from unintentional CO. Funded by Bill & Melinda Gates. |
| Sent final version of material* for Gi Magazine to Jordanne via editor@IGEM. Changes were minimal and added five words but still less than the version sent to us by Jordanne. |
| *Headline: ‘CO-Gas Safety charity calls for the deadly carbon monoxide (CO) to be tested for whenever practicable. |
| CO can be emitted by faulty cooking or heating appliances/ engines powered by carbon-based fuel (e.g. gas, oil, coal, wood, diesel, petrol, etc.). CO cannot be sensed by humans. |
| Under 2 per cent of CO in air can kill in less than 3 minutes. Lower levels over longer periods cause brain and neurological injuries; some survivors say it's worse than death. |
| Testing people can be unreliable because CO leaves the breath/blood quickly yet continues causing further injury long after exposure. |
| Testing identifies any appliance emitting CO and helps medical diagnosis. |
| CO poisoning can be prevented by: |
| • Awareness campaigns |
| • Expert installation |
| • Adequate ventilation. |
| • Regular maintenance |
| • Chimney/flue sweeping |
| • Testing homes and appliances for CO |
| • Installing CO alarms to BS EN 50291 |
| In 1995 the charity called for CO public awareness campaigns and the gas emergency service test for CO using equipment, e.g. flue gas analysers. |
| Now the charity asks the government to impose a mandatory duty on all registered gas engineers to test for CO, whenever practicable. Most RGEs do this anyway. |
| Where found, the PPM (parts per million) of CO must be given to those exposed and their medics digitally/in writing. |
| CO-Gas Safety is a survivor/victim based, independent, registered charity and if you’d like to respond to their plea, please get in touch at: office@co-gassafety.co.uk |
| IGEM recognises the importance of CO charities and their important work to eradicate harmful CO. IGEM fully supports the reduction and elimination of CO that affects health.’ |
| Heard from Joshua Graves on Linked in – his father had worked for NACs and knew Dr John Henry, so I responded and he seems very knowledgeable. I told him that we wanted mandatory duty to test for CO whenever practicable on RGEs and he supports this. Said we should get together. |
| Talked to Joshua Graves re CMDDA1 who has some good ideas on how to change it. |
| Heard from Adrian McConnell – would invite Josh’s lot of students and sent to Sue. |
| Wrote to Joshua Graves and sorted a date for our meeting 03.09.24 at 3.00 p.m. Jonathan can do. Asked if BB can do this too. Josh sent article by his father submitted to Sunday Times in 1988.In September 2024 we attended the start of Gas Safety Week and received an impression that at last there was some recognition of the need to establish a properly set up and funded body both to help survivors and learn from each incident. However, this has not materialised, so far at least. |
| Stephanie also asked about data now that the gas emergency service is now testing for CO in some cases. |
| September and October 2024 |
| There were many virtual meetings with the four companies that run the gas emergency service. CO-Gas Safety noticed that questions were not seen by all and, on break-outs, CO-Gas Safety was put in a sub-group of organisations such as Housing Associations, which meant again that our points were not heard by the company concerned. |
| On 16th October Stephanie was invited and gave the keynote talk at a CORT (Carbon monoxide Research Trust) event, ‘Voicing Victims’ Stories’. Stephanie was honoured to be asked but disappointed that this was at a hotel rather than at Liverpool John Moore’s University as expected. |
| Three deaths in a care home in Swanage were reported in October. Stephanie was contacted by the BBC for a telephone interview the next day. Later the interview was cancelled due to the arrest of the owner of the care home and fear of jeopardising any legal case. |
| We wrote to Lloyd Hutton, MP for Swanage, and to the Coroner for Swanage introducing ourselves, what we do, and offering victim support. We also expressed our gratitude for help from Coroners and their officers and ideas for prevention of future deaths. |
| In October we published on our website ‘Law, Practice and Prevention of Deaths and Injuries from Unintentional Carbon Monoxide in the UK – with suggestions for other countries’ written by Stephanie Trotter. Stephanie did so because Charon McNabbs of NCOAA (USA National Carbon Monoxide Awareness Association https://www.ncoaa.us/ ) asked her to write about the law in the UK on carbon monoxide. Please see https://www.co-gassafety.co.uk/resources/law-practice-prevention/. |
| We made efforts to contact people, especially those who’ve lost children. We continue to particularly ask GDNs to help us but our contact details are usually not passed on e.g. four year old killed https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-66436904. |
| CO-Gas Safety is apparently not an ‘approved body’ according to HSE, yet there is no other body that specifically helps survivors/victims of CO and their family members. We have asked how we become ‘an approved body’ but not received a response. It’s interesting that our name and email address are on the ONS website (scroll down to the bottom of the following page: https://www.ons.gov.uk/aboutus/transparencyandgovernance/freedomofinformationfoi/carbonmonoxidedeathsandpoisoningsforthepast10years). |
| Throughout the year we have cooperated with any person who, or body which, wanted survivors/victims or their family members for media purposes, to raise awareness of CO, e.g. for CO Awareness week. |
| We also worked hard throughout the year to be allowed to contribute fields for data collection to data being collected by GDNs and SIA, which is helping the GDNs with the data. We are not sure if parts per million of CO, where found, or the name of the gas engineer carrying out the tests, are being given to those exposed. This should be done in writing (either hard copy or digitally) so that it can be passed to their medics. Individual engineers may do this, especially if asked, but most people don’t know enough about CO to ask for this. |
| The data we have seen shows CO evident in some entries but had no parts per million recorded. We’ve tried persistently to find out for some time, particularly during this last year and particularly in the last three months, if these levels are indeed recorded. We conclude that the parts per million of CO, where found, hasn’t, isn’t, and won’t been recorded in the data and there are no plans to do so. Nor were there any details of the appliance which emitted the CO. Data is only as good as the work on the facts you feed into it. What a wasted opportunity. |
| In any case, the GDNs say they use ‘visual signs’ to decide whether or not to test for CO, when the whole problem with CO is that it cannot be sensed using human senses! |
| Servicing and chimney/flue sweeping are vital, but people rich or poor often don’t know that: - |
| 1. Servicing and chimney/flue sweeping are life-or-death issues and |
| 2. A serviced appliance with a clean flue, (when a flue is fitted), is also more efficient, so provides more energy for less carbon fuel burned. |
| In other words, servicing saves lives and preserves health, as well as saving some pollution and cost. |
| CO alarms to EN 50291 are often put forward as the answer to CO but although they prevent death and serious injury, they are not health monitors – there is huge confusion about this. It is surely far better to prevent CO being created in the first place? The WHO is continually reassessing their guidelines for toxins, which are now only about 4 PPM over 24 hours for CO. |
| There is a need for health visitors and anyone visiting a home etc. to have PAMs (Personal Alarm Monitors) for CO. |
| Nov-24 |
| In November Stephanie informed the directors that her article in International Fire & Safety Journal had been published and sent a link https://internationalfireandsafetyjournal.com/the-silent-threat-co-gas-safety-explains-the-unseen-dangers-of-carbon-monoxide-poisoning/. The journal has a worldwide circulation of 200,000. Stephanie is indebted to the editor Ian Hoey for his excellent editing job. |
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| Following the unfortunate death of three people due to carbon monoxide poisoning at a care home in Swanage, APPCOG member Julia Buckley MP raised a parliamentary question on considerations to remove the exemption of care homes in the Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm (England) Regulations 2015 and its impact on public health. |
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| Stephen Kinnock MP, Minister of State for Health and Social Care, shared that there are currently no plans to assess the impact of removing this exemption. |
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| Dec-24 |
| In December we sent an email to Dan Edwards, Chair of the GDN CO Group. This congratulated the GDNs on funding carers but made the point that, if there was testing for CO, perhaps there would be fewer people who needed carers. https://www.herald.wales/national-news/health/uk-gas-networks-partner-with-carers-trust-to-provide-vital-and-urgent-financial-support/ |
| Dr Mary O’Shaughnessy, Safeguarding Specialist at Cadent Gas Limited, contacted Stephanie on LinkedIn. She also copied Earl Richards – responding to Stephanie’s comment, Mary stated, ‘surely means only went to replacement not testing?’ Stephanie wrote ‘you’d think that wouldn’t you?’ But this is not the case. Stephanie also emailed her and sent her our case studies link and Wayne Merry’s cooker data and also Roland Johns’ quote on the website that there should be a duty on all RGEs (Registered Gas Engineers) to test for CO. |
| Monday 16.12.24 APPCOG Event, Voicing Victims’ Stories |
| Al Pinkerton MP was excellent. Stephanie gave him an AICO CO alarm and praised its downloadable feature. Stephanie met Cathy Foley, Jordan Foley (Cathy’s son) and also Claire, Cathy’s friend. It was a good meeting. Jerry Mills, father of Tom Mills, kept saying that if only they’d known what to do when the CO alarm sounded... Dan Edwards, of SGN (Scotia Gas Networks), suggested a line drawing on every CO alarm showing it sounding and people getting outside. Stephanie thought this was an excellent idea and followed this up with an email. Emilia (case worker for Joe Robertson’s MP – Stephanie’s MP) wrote to say he would ask some PQs. Replied to say would write from home. |
| APPCOG has kindly recognised the need for a body like us. CO-Gas Safety facilitated the attendance of all the survivors/victims and family members at the event on 16th December, very near Christmas. CO-Gas Safety also provided the expenses of the survivors (who submitted receipts) in attending, some having to stay overnight as the meeting was too early on Monday to be certain of arriving in time. The charity also provided lunch afterwards. Although Gaelan Komen thanked us all very nicely at the time, the charity was not even mentioned in APPCOG’s December update. |
| In the December APPCOG newsletter it was reported that Andrew Gwynne, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Public Health and Prevention, responded to a letter by Paul Davies MP (Chair of APPCOG) pressing for carbon monoxide poisoning to be recognised as a serious public health concern. The letter from Paul Davies MP emphasised the health burden of carbon monoxide poisoning and the need for government communication and leadership on the issue. |
| We have thanked Paul Davies MP for that and are meeting him in early February. |
| Jan-25 |
| In January 2025 Stephanie sent Gaelan Komen, manager of APPCOG, a link about TV stats – they seemed to show that TV is far from dead as a medium for advertising or public warnings. https://www.finder.com/uk/stats-facts/tv-statistics British Gas certainly uses prime-time TV! |
| We received a ‘Victims access to justice and support’ email. We sent this to APPCOG and listed the main problems, which were: - |
| 1. Victims are not listened to. |
| 2. Lack of proof. |
| 3. Ignoring victims when some action could make a difference, e.g. putting the victims in touch with each other, which could have made a difference earlier with regard to the Post Office Horizon scandal. |
| We wrote to Jonathan Brearley, CEO of Ofgem, asking him to write to HSE and including a draft. This asked HSE to respond to whether or not testing for CO was a safety issue and if HSE thought this was not, to please give reasons to CO-Gas Safety. |
| General points made in the January 2024- January 2025 report |
| CO-Gas Safety is unable to obtain a meeting with Sir Stephen Timms, who is the Minister responsible for the HSE. We note that it is being reported that meetings with Ministers are apparently being offered for £30,000 https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/oct/04/dont-do-it-again-miliband-tells-labour-over-30000-breakfast-with-minister |
| COMED (the medical group on CO under APPCOG) doesn’t meet often, perhaps twice a year, and it seems CO-Gas Safety is not welcome, yet survivors are desperate for medical advice. Survivors would also be pleased to provide their feedback to medics on their experiences. |
| It seems from what little we’ve gleaned from the publicly available data we have received from NGN (Northern Gas Networks) that the GDNs do not record parts per million of CO in their data. |
| Northern Gas Networks kindly sent us https://northerngasopendataportal.co.uk/. |
| Two other bodies with millions in funding exist: the Gas Safety Trust, which offers good e-learning courses about CO; and CORT (the Carbon monoxide Research Trust), which gives grants for good research. Yet neither offers specific help to victims/survivors/families. |
| We seem to be the only body to try to offer specific advice to survivors/victims of CO and their family members, which should be done for the sake of those affected. However, there is another reason, which is that each incident is an opportunity for research. We have learned everything from victims/survivors/families, and we run their ideas past industry for practicality and cost. |
| There were many missed opportunities to improve the system, for example the failure to take up our idea of a film to warn about carbon monoxide although there is UIOLI (Use It Or Lose It) funding from Ofgem. Does neither the fuel industry nor government want to improve CO safety? |
| In this year of very hard voluntary work, we have more than proved the need for a body to help victims/survivors and families of those who’ve died of CO, and lobby for improvements to prevent future deaths and injuries. We found out the basics of what needed to be done very quickly, within weeks or months of starting in 1995. What was and still is needed: |
| 1. Increased awareness by films, ideally on prime-time TV and social media. These could also be accessed by use of QR codes put up in bus shelters, stations, airports, harbours, doctors’ surgeries, sailing clubs etc. |
| 2. Testing air in homes for CO by the gas emergency service whenever practicable. |
| Additions we now ask for: |
| 3. A mandatory duty on all Gas Safe Registered Engineers to test air in homes for CO and emissions from appliances, whenever practicable. |
| 4. That all engineers and chimney sweeps, who deal with cooking or heating in homes, cars or boats, be registered by law in the same way as gas engineers. |
| 5. Any CO found be given in parts per million to those exposed, or who could have been exposed, in writing/digitally for them and their medics. This should also be recorded in data sets with other fields (e.g. appliance type, fuel etc.) also identified and documented. |
| 6. A body should be properly set up and funded to do what CO-Gas Safety has been doing on a shoestring and voluntarily for 30 years. |
| 7. Data can then be collected, collated and published, and improvements to safety made. Data will improve awareness too. |
| Conclusion |
| Even more work has been done by CO-Gas Safety, but little action from industry or government. Yet government action is vital in order to make it mandatory to test the air in the home and the emissions from appliances whenever practicable. |
| 25.01.2025 Marked the 30th anniversary of the launch of CO-Gas Safety at the House of Commons. |
| Feb-25 |
| We have been asked to write amendments to the Gas Regulations but no request in writing, which would help us to obtain expert help and advice to help us do this. |
| Sent submission re RIIO3 to Ofgem re awareness, testing for CO and data and reminded Ofgem that it has statutory duties re awareness of CO and customers in vulnerable situations and public funding was being used, so surely data should be recorded and publicly available? |
| Mar-25 |
| March CO-Gas Safety was invited to attend COMED meeting but unfortunately Stephanie was abroad on holiday. Paul Overton and Sue Westwood kindly attended. Gaelan kindly read out my statement. But this was right at the end of the meeting and everyone was packing up. |
| Apr-25 |
| April Wrote to Lavanya to ask where she’d heard that CO was a low priority – surely Healthy Homes are still a high priority for the Labour Government? |
| Heard good news from Roz Savage MP – Sir Stephen Tims said HSE had told Ofgem CO was a safety issue. Sent to Work Group. Later received permission to send to Ofgem and quote from it which we did. |
| Wrote to Hilary Bath and Simon Main and sent some clear questions for the trustees of the Gas Safe Charity, seeking support for CO-Gas Safety’s aims. |
| Helped the family of Michael Barnard who’d died from unintentional CO in a car. Put the family in touch with Michelle Hindson, mother of Nikki Willis who had also died from unintentional CO in a car see https://www.co-gassafety.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/APPROVED-Nikki-Willis.pdf |
| Helped Jerry Hill with his press release and general advice about media for his climbs and other fund-raising activities the family were kindly doing for CO-Gas Safety. |
| Helped a father whose daughter was a student dentist and poisoned by CO at the surgery. |
| May-25 |
| Very exciting successful events in England, Wales, Switzerland, Greenland and Tasmania – all events that were to honour Tom Hill, who tragically died of CO aged just 18, and to raise funds for CO-Gas Safety. Fantastic pics and a film from Jerry about the climb. Wrote to thank him and all who took part. Total funds £4,500. |
| As a person who has campaigned & lobbied for safety for over 30 years, Stephanie found Sunday the 4th May somewhat worrying. But Jerry had organised it all perfectly and Stephanie was delighted to hear that everyone was safe. What a brilliantly successful event! See https://www.co-gassafety.co.uk/climbs-walk-successful-all-back-safe-and-sound-hurrah-congratulations/ |
| Phil from the BBC rang re Lucy Barnard and her petition to confirm that we were supporting her petition to put CO alarms in cars – said we were but had suggested she contact her MP and APPCOG |
| 12th May - Clean Air Strategy Review – Targeting Indoor Air Pollution meeting at Portcullis House chaired by Wera Hobhouse MP, APPCOG member. Stephanie gave a brief talk about CO, how practice, increased awareness and regulations would reduce incidents. See https://www.co-gassafety.co.uk/2025/05/ |
| Jonathan Kane followed with improvements in the technology making testing for CO easier and cheaper. |
| Heard from Julie Cush of the BBC that her article about Michael Barnard’s death in a car from unintentional CO got 128,000 hits. |
| VCMA meeting – NGN asked how does the FCO decide whether or not to investigate and test for CO? Asked other questions too. |
| Wrote to Dan Edwards and Phil Burrows – re crucial issue of testing and Sir Stephen Timms, (Minister for HSE), letter that testing is a safety issue so given Ofgem’s statutory duties of raising awareness of CO and testing - surely opportunity for GDNs to gain huge funds. |
| Jun-25 |
| Flurry of press due to inquest into the death of Tom Hill. |
| Coroner willing to write a prevention of future deaths report but only re lack of warning on cabinet heater sadly not re CO alarm needing information to get out. Wants information about trade association of manufacturers. Offered to research this. Accepted. Can’t find the contact details of Liquid Gas UK. Lavanya kindly offering to help. Also, the Guild of Master Chimney Sweeps is helping. Does anyone else have their email address or telephone number? Have tried the one on the website – it’s dead. |
| Isabella Holliday, journalist, wanted 100 words and I drafted them and sent to Jerry Hill for his approval. He approved and I sent to Isabella on 03.06. |
| ‘Less than 2% of carbon monoxide (CO) in the air can kill in under three minutes. CO cannot be sensed using human senses. So why doesn’t the gas emergency service have a mandatory duty to test for CO? |
| We are grateful to Tom Hill’s family for raising awareness of the dangers of LPG powered cabinet heaters, which surely should be banned? |
| Why are there no films to inform the public about the dangers of CO from carbon powered appliances such as gas cookers, generators or wood burners? There is also a huge need for better support for victims and families.’ |
| Interviewed by the BBC. |
| Sent email to Jonathan Brearley CEO of Ofgem and RIIO 3 team asking if RIIO 3 will resolve our issues about testing for CO whenever practicable, recording the PPM (parts per million) and providing the PPM to survivors etc. for medics. Olivia from Jonathan Brearley’s office kindly acknowledged. |
| Sent email to Phil Burrows, resending email sent 04.03. which set out our issues of concern about the data submitted and used by CORA platform. See 04.03. above. |
| Also pointed pointing out that Cadent’s £1.5 million donation to Alzheimer’s is good but no awareness or tests or body to help victims. CO could have caused brain damage and patients suffering Alzheimer’s could still be being exposed to CO. |
| Jul-25 |
| Most of July spent lobbying the GDNs of the need to test for CO whenever practicable using a sweep test, not visual signs. |
| Also lobbied for meeting with Ofgem to point out these difficulties and ask for more funding for GDNs. Meeting will be in November. |
|
| Ofgem webinar. |
| 1. RIIO 2 was finally £171 million – RIIO-3 is only £165 million - why is it now less? |
| Will APPCOG and other bodies such as IGEM, CORT, the Gas Safe Charity etc. lobby for an increase? Need to set up a properly funded body to do the work CO-Gas Safety does. |
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| 2. Ofgem stated that ‘the incentive focus on company activity which directly impacts on consumers.’ We think it’s hard to imagine anything more impactful on consumers than testing/not testing for CO! |
| 3. Ofgem also made the point that innovation allowances of £218 million must be genuinely innovative. We think it is innovative to test and to help victims/survivors! |
| 4. The Finance overview was ‘Protect consumers from unnecessary risk’. We found that somewhat ironic. |
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| There is surely a need for Ofgem to set out rules re the funding provided by it to the GDNs. |
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| Wrote to Charley Clark of Ofgem re data consultation. |
| 1. Do any rules apply to funds provided by Ofgem re data? |
| 2. Do best practice data rules apply to material collected as a result of funds by Ofgem? |
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| Huge issue suffered by victims/survivors – can’t find medics to help even assess their injuries and COMED cannot seem to help. |
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| Stephanie Trotter O.B.E |
| 17 November 2025 |