Huddersfield MP Barry Sheerman calls for Government to introduce mandatory gas safety checks in all homes

Jun 22 2009 Huddersfield Daily Examiner

HUDDERSFIELD MP Barry Sheerman has called for the Government to introduce annual gas safety checks in all homes.

Mr Sheerman tabled a question in the House of Commons last week for the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, John Denham.

He asked whether there are plans to introduce mandatory annual checks on household gas appliances, to reduce the number of deaths from carbon monoxide poisoning. Mr Sheerman expects a reply within a week.

He said: “It should be a mandatory check and everyone should just expect to be visited each year. Rented properties have to be inspected already, but it should done in all homes.

“You can’t put value on a human life, but the check should be free, or affordable for everyone.

“I’d like the Health and Safety Executive to bring together gas safety groups, suppliers and insurance companies to formulate a plan.”

The idea is one of the main aims of carbon monoxide awareness group the Dominic Rodgers Trust, which has just become a registered charity.

Mr Sheerman helped build the charity with campaigner Stacey Rodgers, whose 10-year-old son Dominic died of carbon monoxide poisoning in 2004.

Mr Sheerman said: “I promised Stacey I would never give up on the campaign and so I keep pushing it. The question was part of that.”

It also ties in with the start of an annual poster campaign run by charity Co-Gas Safety.

The competition invites pupils across the country to design a poster highlighting the dangers of carbon monoxide.