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Wolverhampton Information Network

Safety In The Home (Risks)

Your home, whether an apartment, bungalow, flat, bedsit or a house, should be a comfortable and safe environment. While safety-proofing every aspect of your home is impossible, you can make some simple improvements that will make your home safer for everyone.

Safety in the home

In the UK almost 4,000 people die from accidents in the home every year in the UK according to Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (ROSPA), including accidents involving:-

  • trips and falls
  • fires
  • burns and scalds
  • accidental poisoning
  • garden accidents

Young children under five and older people aged 65 and above are particularly at risk. For advice on how to keep yourself and your family safe within your home and advice on other topics including child safety and garden safety visit the Royal Prevention of Accidents website via the link on the right hand side of this page.

Gas Safety

If you smell Gas or think your appliance is dangerous contact the National Grid immediately on 0800 111 999, click on the links on the right for further information about National Grid and what they do.

Carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning can be fatal or cause permanent damage to your health. CO is produced when carbon fuels don't burn completely. It has no smell or taste and, in large quantities, it can kill very quickly.

If you suspect carbon monoxide poisoning, you should:

  • get everyone out into the fresh air.
  • open all doors and windows to ventilate the property.
  • do not turn on/off any electrical switches.
  • extinguish all naked flames, do not smoke, strike matches or do anything which could cause ignition.
  • if there are any electrical security entry phones/locks, please open door manually.

For more information about carbon monoxide visit West Midlands Fire Service

Gas Safe Register

This is the official gas registration body for the United Kingdom, Isle of Man and Guernsey, appointed by the relevant Health and Safety Authority for each area. Gas Safe Register replaced CORGI as the gas registration body in Great Britain and Isle of Man on 1 April 2009. By law all gas engineers must be on the Gas Safe Register.

What does Gas Safe Register do?

The main focus of the Register is on improving and maintaining gas safety to the highest standards making sure all gas engineers on the Register, over 125,000, are qualified to work with gas.

The Gas Safe Register work to protect the public from unsafe gas work through;

  • a dedicated national investigations team tracking down individuals working illegally.
  • regular inspections of Gas Safe registered engineers.
  • educating consumers and raising awareness of gas safety.
  • investigating reports of unsafe gas work.

Electrical Safety

Every year in UK homes, about 70 people die and 350,000 are seriously injured from electrical accidents.

Electrical fires account for almost half of accidental house fires - over 21,000 a year, and 2.5 million British adults say they have experienced an electric shock at home.

Approximately nine out of ten (89%) electrical fires are caused by electrical products, mainly through their misuse.

The Electrical Safety Council (ESC) offers simple advice to help you to keep yourself, your loved ones and your homes safe from electrical accidents and fires. Visit the website in the in the links on the right for more information.

Fire Safety

Home Fire Risk Assessment Teams work in the home with older people and people with disabilities to discuss the risks of fire and to look for any visible warning signs. They also work with carers to ensure that they have the relevant knowledge and skills to get themselves and the person they care for out safely in the event of a fire.

Here you will find out more details about the work of the West Midlands Fire Service.

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