GAS SAFETY WEEK
‘NO EXCUSE’ APPROACH NEEDED TO GAS SAFETY AS DANGEROUS APPLIANCES ARE FOUND IN HALF OF HOMES IN NORTHERN IRELAND…
Learn the lessons of Gas Safety
T he nation’s favourite headteacher, Educating Yorkshire’s Matthew Burton, has joined forces with registered gas engineers across the country to urge people to stop making excuses for ignoring safety this Gas Safety Week (13-19 September). A quarter of adults in Northern Ireland (26%) make excuses at least twice a week to get out of, or put off, doing things they know they should do, with skipping or being late for a social event the top reason for persistent excuse making (cited by 43%). More than three fifths of people in Northern Ireland (62%) have used an excuse to skip work and nearly three quarters (74%) to side-step socialising. New research from official safety body, Gas Safe Register, also shows one in two people (53%) have used excuses to get out of having their home gas appliances safety checked, despite over three quarters (79%) saying they would never make excuses if their loved ones’ safety was at risk.
The latest inspection figures from Gas Safe Register demonstrate just how real these risks are and why excuses aren’t worth making. One in two in Northern Ireland – and more broadly, nearly 7 million homes in the UK – house potentially dangerous gas appliances, including boilers, cookers and gas fires. If left unchecked, these faults can pose a threat to life from gas leaks, fires, carbon monoxide poisoning and explosions. Mr Burton admitted he thought he’d heard every excuse in the book from his pupils until he spoke to Gas Safe registered engineers about the tall tales they commonly hear. Insights from over 500 Gas Safe Registered engineers show householders most commonly use ‘if it ain’t broke don’t fix it’ as an excuse for skipping annual gas safety check-ups, failing to see the point if everything appears to be working fine, even though this could be masking lethal faults. Further far-fetched
excuses they’ve been faced with include: ‘The parrot doesn’t like gas fitters’; ‘I used a wine bottle cork to stop gas coming out of the hole in the wall’; ‘I just open the window if it starts smelling of gas’; and ‘I didn’t think gas was dangerous.’ Mr Burton said, “Having been a teacher for many years, I thought I’d heard a wide range of excuses, from the old- school ‘the dog ate my homework’ to today’s ‘my laptop has blown up’. And excuses don’t stop when we leave school. We all lead busy lives and find little reasons here and there that sometimes help us justify putting off or avoiding things. But, there are no excuses for not taking gas safety seriously in our homes. From personal experience, I know that unsafe and unchecked appliances – cookers, boilers, gas fires – can be deadly. Taking action is easy though – it’s so important that we educate ourselves on the warning signs of gas safety, and that we choose prevention over cure.”
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