This proposal will require CO alarms in all dwellings where a combustion appliance using any fuel is to be installed or replaced. It follows the recent deaths of two teenage friends in a modern holiday apartment complex with a gas appliance.
Unfortunately, the current Part J Approved Document, which applies to England and Wales, only calls for a CO alarm in the same room as a new or replacement fixed solid fuel heating appliance. But what about other potential carbon monoxide sources in the home, particularly gas appliances? Now, the House of Commons Communities and Local Government Committee has joined the debate and added to pressures for a change to Part J requiring hard-wired carbon monoxide (CO) alarms in all new homes.
CO ALARMS IN ALL HOMES
In its March review, the CLG Committee picked up on discrepancies in approach between Part J and the new Green Deal ‘Installer Standard’. The Standard will include a requirement for installers to assess the impact of their work on air-tightness and any associated increased risks of CO poisoning, irrespective of fuel type. If there is any increase, a CO alarm must be installed. The CLG Committee commented: “We welcome the inclusion of carbon monoxide alarms in the Green Deal standard. Confusion between government departments, particularly in respect of public safety issues, is unacceptable and we conclude that the Government needs a comprehensive policy.
“We recommend that Part J should go even further and require audible, wired-up EN 50291-compliant carbon monoxide alarms to be fitted wherever a relevant heating appliance is installed in any new-build or existing homes.” There are interesting parallels here with Regulations for hardwired smoke and heat alarms in housing. With domestic fires, current requirements do not attempt to predict specific sources of fire but cover all situations. Mandatory hard-wired smoke/heat alarms in all new housing today therefore provide an effective, low-cost means of detecting and warning of fire.
By its very nature, carbon monoxide justifies exactly the same approach. Building Regulations should demand CO alarms in new homes and wherever any combustion appliance is fitted in existing dwellings, not just focus on specific risks such as solid fuel heating. The logical solution is a comprehensive linked system of hard-wired smoke, heat and CO alarms in every home. This can be accommodated by the latest products with facilities such as ‘Smart Interconnect’, enabling a number of Kidde Fyrnetics hard-wired CO, smoke and heat alarms to be interconnected for wholehouse protection against both carbon monoxide and fire. This applies equally to existing homes and particularly rented housing.
More information is available in a new guide ‘FIRE & CO SAFETY IN HOUSING’ available via: www.smoke-alarms.co.uk