Gas-blast peril of OL postcode

OLDHAM is part of a gas-risk hot-spot, where 15 per cent of appliances checked were found to be unsafe.

Data from a gas-safety campaign revealed that of 8,004 appliances checked in North-West homes, between June, 2011, and July, 2012, 640 (8 per cent) were unsafe.

But in the OL postcode, which includes large parts of Oldham, Rochdale and Ashton, the figure for unsafe appliances almost doubled to 15 per cent — compared with only 1 per cent in Carlisle.

The Gas Safe Register (GSR) — the UK’s official gas-safety authority — has for the first time targeted a specific area for detailed checks.

Since October, 2012, it has checked the safety of gas appliances in 1,616 homes across the North-West, with nearly one in five found so unsafe that they could have resulted in gas explosions, fires, leaks or carbon monoxide poisoning, if left unchecked.

The campaign has also targeted illegal gas-fitters preying on residents and putting lives in danger.

Since last October, 94 illegal gas jobs have been investigated with more than one in 10 (11 per cent) of victims’ homes left by cowboy fitters in a seriously dangerous condition resulting in the GSR team shutting off the gas immediately.

In the period between 2006–2011 the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) reported 106 injuries in the North-West from gas explosions, fires, leaks and carbon monoxide poisoning.

To help people in the North-West discover the risks in their area, GSR has created an online gas map tool at www.silentkiller.co.uk
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