Carbon Monoxide Poisoning due to neglegence!

em.chid

Cardew wrote: »

Apart from the accurate replies above, you would surely smell gas on 21 Dec as you did on 29th Dec.

Also you say that the fire was condemned but you also say you had the 'fire on'.???

Again, as stated above, any appliance that burns gas can produce carbon monoxide when faulty; but it wouldn't be caused by a leaking pipe - your house would have exploded first!

We was all poorly over the period with 'cold and flu' symptoms so we had blocked noses - even on the 29th it was myself that could smell the gas as my partner still had blocked nose that is why we didnt smell it to start.
The engineer told us that it was safe to use the fires as it was the only source of heating we had.
I am only saying carbon monoxide poisoning as that is what they told us at the hospital.

C_Mababejive

Can you please clarify whether you are concerned about your health or a possible financial gain?

If the former,it seems that your report is lacking in detail. Did the hospital take a blood from you and your children?

Can you provide evidence of negligence since litigation for compensation requires evidence not just hearsay and unqualified statements?

CO can only generally be produced by the incomplete combustion of fossil fuels.

Also,under the Gas Safety Installation & Use Regulations, you have a legal duty not to use an appliance which you know or suspect to be defective.

Owain_Moneysaver

em.chid wrote: »

we had the fire on which had the leaking pipe - would that make CO?

If the reason the boiler was condemmed was related to combustion ventilation and flueing then yes.

But that should have applied to both the fire and the boiler as they share the same vent and flue.

HSE runs a free Gas Safety Advice Line offering advice on gas safety that is open 8am-8pm Monday- Friday and 10am-4pm on a Saturday. To contact the Gas Safety Advice Line freephone 0800 300 363.

em.chid

C_Mababejive wrote: »

Can you please clarify whether you are concerned about your health or a possible financial gain?

If the former,it seems that your report is lacking in detail. Did the hospital take a blood from you and your children?

Can you provide evidence of negligence since litigation for compensation requires evidence not just hearsay and unqualified statements?

CO can only generally be produced by the incomplete combustion of fossil fuels.

Also,under the Gas Safety Installation & Use Regulations, you have a legal duty not to use an appliance which you know or suspect to be defective.

I am more bothered about my 15 month old daughters health as she is still not well and has been awake for the total of about 4 hours since Wednesday!!!

The hospital did not take blood they checked with the CO machine they have which tells them if we have been exposed and how much we had in our system - the results meant that we had to have oxygen therapy!

In respect to we have a legal duty not to use an appliance, when you are told by a registered british gas engineer that it is safe to use you should be able to trust them!

p1nkk1tten

I must say, my priority would be to get someone else out asap to check all the gas appliances and get a carbon monoxide detector fitted instead of asking about compensation

em.chid

We now have a carbon monoxide detector in our house - we got one from the second engineer that came out.

C_Mababejive

The initial report was that your heating was faulty. The Engineer said that parts were required and that the appliance was not useable until the parts arrived.

He didnt attend because of a report of fumes/CO poisoning etc.

Therefore he would have no reason to suspect that there might be exposure to CO.

Indeed,there is no firm evidence that there was CO exposure,nor is there firm evidence as to the source of possible exposure.

If the source was in your home for example, has anything been checked to confirm or otherwise that there is indeed a defect?

GSR Reg'd engineers dont actually test for CO in the atmosphere unless they are one of the small minority who have certificated for the new atmospheric analysis package and have spent big bucks on the necessary equipment.

em.chid

C_Mababejive wrote: »

The initial report was that your heating was faulty. The Engineer said that parts were required and that the appliance was not useable until the parts arrived.

He didnt attend because of a report of fumes/CO poisoning etc.

Therefore he would have no reason to suspect that there might be exposure to CO.

Indeed,there is no firm evidence that there was CO exposure,nor is there firm evidence as to the source of possible exposure.

If the source was in your home for example, has anything been checked to confirm or otherwise that there is indeed a defect?

GSR Reg'd engineers dont actually test for CO in the atmosphere unless they are one of the small minority who have certificated for the new atmospheric analysis package and have spent big bucks on the necessary equipment.

No the engineer didnt come because of CO leaking or gas leak but it was through him that we had CO leaking - that is my point.

The second engineer said that it was the first engineers fault as he hadnt tightened up the gas pipe properly when he carried out the service of boiler and appliances!

Valli

But, as we have said, it wasn't CO leaking from the pipe - the CO MUST have come from a faulty appliance.

CO cannot have leaked from the gas supply because CO isn't in GAS.

The gas supplied by any gas supplier is GAS - not carbon monoxide. When gas is burned it produces by-products. If appliances are working properly AND are properly ventilated they produce carbon dioxide which is naturally present in air and can be breathed in (and then back out).
If appliances are faulty and/or are not properly ventilated (ie they don't have a sufficient supply of air) THEN carbon monoxide is formed as a by product.

The body, however can absorb carbon monoxide just as easily as oxygen - that causes the problem.

Your initial engineer might well have not properly stopped the gas leak BUT SOMETHING ELSE INSIDE YOUR HOUSE is causing/has caused the carbon monoxide to be produced. The engineer wasn't called to a faulty/improperly burning appliance but to a leak. Not the same thing.

Have ALL your appliances now been checked?
Are you in flats/semi-detached/terrace?

Near where I live TWO adjacent households were affected by CO a few years ago. An old lady died; the family next door (two adults and two children) died. The faulty appliance was in the old lady's house IIRC.:(

muckybutt

em.chid wrote: »

The hospital did not take blood they checked with the CO machine they have which tells them if we have been exposed and how much we had in our system - the results meant that we had to have oxygen therapy!

That is not a CO test !, that is an Oxygen saturation test. Was it the little clip thing they put on the end of your finger with the light in it ?
If thats the case the gas will have been forcing oxygen out of the atmosphere in the rooms concerned thus giving your family Hypoxia ( Oxygen starvation ) the o2 test would have been to determine the amount of o2 in your blood normal sats would be 95 - 98% o2. However having said that if the gas had got that bad then you wouldnt have a house left.

CO testing is only done by giving blood.

If you have had the fire lit it is more than likely that it is the fire that isnt burning right....its NOTHING to do with a leaking gas pipe or what the engineer did.

Untill you get all your gas appliances tested for safety DO NOT USE THEM....ANY OF THEM however cold you get !!!!!! !!!

Ive been there and had CO poisoning and it aint nice, there can be quite nasty long term effects, we had our fire / back boiler serviced every year however it was nothing to do with the fire, unbeknown to us the flue in the loft had become detatched and CO was flowing back into the house.