Chairman’s blog continued.

I am at present ensconced in my room in the Liverpool City Centre Premier Inn taking a rest from the hectic activity that has been CO Awareness Week to date.

On Tuesday we met in the Kings Hall Conference Centre Belfast courtesy of the Northern Ireland Safety Group.   This group has a membership covering all aspects of health and safety including people involved in the commercial sector.   Both Lynn and I were sad to see that Albert Smallwood who did such a magnificent job of organising the event last year in Londonderry had not been able to join us this year.   We were however very pleased to see that Catherine and John McFerran  and Katrina and George Davidson of the ‘gis a hug  foundation’ had managed to get up for the event as well as some other well known faces from previous events.

The new Chief Inspector of hazardous incidents for HSENI Richard Meredith was there as were representatives of alarm manufacturers and distributors, the Housing Executive, the Northern Ireland Electricity providers, the Water Services and some construction and gas companies.   The group chair Tom Stephenson opened the event by welcoming everybody and saying how important it was to recognise the problems created by carbon monoxide poisoning and how pleased he was to see such a good turnout for the event.

It was then announced that Flowtech Controls Ltd. a company who has recently brought a system, designed to protect the more vulnerable in our society from carbon monoxide poisoning, to the market place had decided to donate three of these systems to the ‘gis a hug foundation’, to be used to raise funds for the charity.   Ciaron Fox Managing Director of the Fox Group appointed in July 2011 as exclusive distributors of the Flowtech systems in Ireland made the presentation to Catherine McFerran of ‘gis a hug foundation’ who then expressed her delight at receiving such a generous donation to the charity.   The systems work by switching off the gas supply if carbon monoxide is sensed by the sensor thus taking positive action when those involved are not able.   It is also possible to connect this system into a centralised alarm system so that third party intervention can also be organised if required.   The presentation was also used as a photo opportunity to record some of those attending the event.

The first speaker was Catherine McFerran who explained the circumstances behind the creation of the foundation and how the title was based a suggestion from a work colleague of her son because Neill was always going around hugging people.   Catherine told us that the aims of the foundation were to spread the word throughout the whole of Ireland about the dangers of carbon monoxide and to ensure that where people could not afford alarms they would provide one free of charge.

I then gave a potted history of how CO Awareness came into being and later achieved charitable status.   I outlined the work of the charity and some of the projects undertaken during the last year including our involvement with setting up the Medical and Community working groups. 

I  went through the latest figures to emerge from the Department of health and the Gas Safety Trust on the number of fatal and non fatal casualties and the cost of carbon monoxide poisoning to the UK.   Following a recent survey and statistical analysis of A&E presentations in England alone it has now been estimated that the number treated for carbon monoxide poisoning is of the order of 4,000 and for the period July 2010 to June 2011 the Gas Safety Trust has announced a recorded number of 50 incidents involving 105 people of which 25 died and 80 were hospitalised.   The most startling statistic of all was that the cost of carbon monoxide poisoning was around £178 million and this does not include for Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.   I finished off my report by saying that the charity had not received any formal funding since 2009 and we were now getting very short of funds to pay for our activities, in fact had it not been for the generosity of John Andrews and the NAPIT Board providing funding for the travel and accommodation for Lynn, myself and the victims this week we would have been hard pressed to hold National CO Awareness Week this year.

My presentation was followed by Richard Meredith who spoke on the activities and campaigns run through the year by HSENI. 

He said that the emphasis was now on education and persuasion rather than coercion and prosecution though these latter options were there to be used as a last resort.   He said that education was the key to resolving the issues.   Richard had also brought along a number of examples of literature in the form of posters and leaflets the office was putting out and that demand had been such that reprints were now having to be done to keep the supplies available.

When it came to questions I asked him about flues in voids and pointed out that a new multiple occupancy building on the opposite side of the road had a number of twin pipe flues which appeared to be improperly installed.

The final talk of the event was given by Dr Paul Joseph from the University of Ulster who spoke on the facilities available from the Fire Safety Engineering Research Department.   He went through the facilities available and the equipment used for modelling various scenarios and measuring the results including the fact that this department contained the biggest burning facility in the UK. 

Tom then threw the meeting open to questions for any of the speakers from the floor and when this was completed he thanked both the speakers and those attending the meeting for what had proved to be an interesting afternoon.   Lynn Allan and I then got things ready for departure once again to Belfast City Airport to catch our flight to Edinburgh.  

This proved quite uneventful and once we had collected our bags we went out to catch a bus over to Fife where my wife picked us up and transported us back for a nice cup of something before going off to bed.

Wednesday morning dawned bright and clear and after breakfast Lynn and I made ready to set off for the next event at the Borders College Campus in Galashiels.    

 

Tony Brunton

I am taking a pause at Belfast Airport to recap on National CO Awareness Week.  Sunday saw an assembly of  CO victims and members of the Board of Trustees in the London County Hall Premier Inn.  Dave and Mary Jane Worswick and Joyce and Peter Bridgewater could not be with us because Mary Jane and Peter were unable to travel due to illness.

The House of Lords event started with an evacuation for a fire alarm and it was after 10.45 before everyone was settled in.  David Penney gave his presentation after the welcome by Baroness Finlay, our patron.  This year we had moved to Committee Room No. 4 and it was standing room only.  David Penney was followed by some of the victims describing their problems, and Andrew Wall gave a particularly harrowing account of the long term effects he has suffered as a result of being poisoned.

Gareth Reese followed Andrew highlighting the stroke or potential for stroke aspects of CO poisoning.  After Gareth there seemed to be a reluctance on the part of the other victims present to say anything about their problems.  I then followed up with a report on the years activities and the floor was then given over to Nick Atkin of Halton Housing.  Nick told the audience that both he and Halton Housing were proud to support Lynn and the awareness campaign in any way they could, and this year that had been by hosting the Community Working Group pilot project, sponsoring the production of cards for the above group and the standard information leaflets which are distributed to anyone needing them.  He explained that this work was so important because of the ease that these incidents could happen and the problems it can cause for those it happens to.  He admitted that it caused all sorts of problems for the organisation but these were secondary to what the victims would suffer as he had learned from his work with Lynn.

Nick’s presentation was followed by an update of the progress of the work being done jointly by Merseyside and West Midlands Fire Services.  This project is taking place as part of the home safety visits by Fire Service personnel and consists of asking a number of additional questions centred around CO.  The update was given by Mark Jones of Merseyside and concluded by saying that as information was obtained it was fed into the Liverpool John Hopkins University computer system where periodic analysis of the data was carried out.  It is hoped that the University will be hosting an information dissemination symposium in June 2012 when a report containing a full analysis of the data and conclusions will be presented to an invited audience of stakeholders.

Dr. Ed Walker, medical adviser to Carbon Monoxide Awareness Ltd., then gave a short report on the creation of the medical group and his hopes for what it may achieve.  He went on to stress that in his opinion the time had come to stop wasting money on more research and development and get on using the money to do things.  Dr. Walker said that based on all that has been said this year we know that if you are exposed to carbon monoxide it will adversely affect you.  We also now know that there is no safe threshold level of exposure, and what had previously been used as definitive criteria of the probable level of damage, carboxyhaemoglobin levels, has now proved to be at best indicative
that exposure has taken place.

He also explained that based on the results of various investigations the mechanism by which carbon monoxide affects those exposed to it is both complex and unpredictable, and certainly not as simple as organ damage as a result of oxygen starvation.  He finished by drawing people’s attention to the diagram and explanation contained in the paper by Lindell K. Weaver MD entitled Carbon Monoxide Poisoning which could be found in the press pack.

The next speaker was Professor Damien McDonnell OBE who took everyone through the process of the creation of the new phone app available free to download by anyone with an android phone.  The professor pointed out that the QR code to enable people to download the app could be found on the back of the press pack.  Simon Simpson then gave a short presentation on the auto shutdown system developed by Flowtech to protect the more vulnerable members of society who could not take the appropriate action if their CO alarm went off.  The system consists of a sensor, receiver, transmitter and motorised valve which, if carbon monoxide is detected, will shut off the incoming gas supply and, where required, inform a central assistance provision to enable a competent and qualified operative to attend and resolve, where possible, what has caused the shut down.

Our final speaker was Stewart Petrie who is a very experienced environmental/public health inspector who on leaving local authority employment has now set up a private practice dealing with problems where tenants or owners are denying authorities access when there is reason to believe all may not be well within the property.  Stewart’s talk provoked a series of questions on various aspects of what legislation could be used to achieve various outcomes and Andrew Wall asked Stewart if he would be prepared to put a list of the legislation he was citing on the charity website so that victims could download the information when they were faced with a blank refusal by local authorities or others to do something when required.

Stewart’s presentation was followed by a quite lively question and answer session and Dr. Walker brought the event to a close to allow the room to be cleared for the next meeting.

Lynn and I then caught a taxi to Victoria where we were just in time to board the Gatwick Express for the next leg of our journey to Belfast for the Northern Ireland event.

 

Tony Brunton

6th Annual Carbon Monoxide Awareness Week

 

Yet another year flown by and here we are back  in London ready to start at the House of Lords in the morning.

From the feedback received there should be a full room  tomorrow, it will be good to see familiar faces again and to meet new ones.

The agenda promises an interesting meeting and for those with 'smart phones' look out for our app going live.

 

Tony Brunton

We are on the road again, making our way to London for the 5th Annual Carbon Monoxide Awareness Week.

Barely seems a year since the last one.

Starting tomorrow at the house of Lords and Commons we work our way around the UK concluding at Sheffield Friday.

Hope to meet you at one of the venues.

on Fri 20 of Nov., 2009 00:36 GMT, by Chairman

Yesterday we (Lynn and I) attended the Welsh event in the City Hall Cardiff. Joining and welcoming us to the venue was Judith Woodman Deputy Leader of Cardiff City Council. Judith holds the portfolio for Housing, Social Justice and Communities so was really the ideal person to address the issues of reaching both tenants and landlords. Also present was Dr. Rupert Evans who was ,until it was stolen, using the Rad 57 Rainbow Pulse CO Oximeter to measure carboxyhaemoglobin in patients exhibiting symptoms which could indicate exposure to carbon monoxide. I am pleased to say that such was the usefulness of this piece of equipment that following the theft, Dr. Evans arranged the purchase of a replacement unit and uses it extensively in the A&E via the duty staff. After highlighting the usefulness of the Rad 57, Dr. Evans then set out some ideas for a patient survey in three hospitals where Rad 57s would be used possibly by Triage Nurses to test all patients exhibiting symptoms which could be associated with exposure to carbon monoxide and a note would be taken of any patients who proved to have been exposed, but would not have been identified under the protocol which did not include the Rad 57. Dr. Evans said that funding this type of project may prove difficult and in answer to this he was offered help by those others with possible contacts who could make representation on his behalf. At this point we were
joined by Gareth, a local victim who unfortunately had been too ill to travel to the victims event in the House of Lords, opting instead to use the event in Cardiff to present his case. Having described, with some difficulty, how he had been poisoned by a next door neighbours appliance and the action taken by the Local Authority, Gareth received a very heartfelt apology from Judith in which she expressed her disappointment in the way the Local Authority had dealt with things and made some suggestions on what future action may be open to Gareth to take. Judith then went on to describe the various roles and duties thrust upon her by her portfolio and offered to introduce CO Awareness to some of the key players in the areas we had been trying to make contacts with. She also asked if we would be prepared to make a technical presentation to the Home Safety Forum, a body made up of key stakeholders in the home safety field when they held one of their meetings early next year. Unfortunately Judith had a prior engagement and had to leave the meeting at 12.00. Lynn and I thanked her for her attendance and extremely valuable input to the discussion. Following the departure of Judith Woodman, it was the turn of the Chief Executive of the Tenants Associations and organiser of the venue to give us a presentation of both his duties and responsibilities and the initiatives being undertaken both by and on behalf of the various tenants associations. He also made reference to problems with both tenants and landlords and outlined some of the measures taken to address matters. CO Awareness offered to give his organisation sight of the flyer being produced for distribution by Carlisle Council to landlords in their area setting out their roles and responsibilities in respect of their tenants. At this time Dr. Evans made his apologies explaining that he had to start work at 1300 and must therefore leave, what for him had been a useful and informative meeting. I will leave my narrative at this time because it is getting late and I must be up tomorrow for the last meeting in the Mechanics Institute here in Manchester. Before I close however I must apologise for the spelling and grammar mistakes made in the previous blogs and put it down to the lateness of the hour and the stress and strain of the events and the travel and hope that you will accept this as the cause. I hope to complete the diary of events tomorrow or Saturday.

Tony Brunton

I have just left Albert Donney talking to the victims in the restaurant about low pressure oxygen therapy for CO poisoning victims. With us tonight for dinner was Allan Vickers, Adelle and Michael, Helen and her daughter Chrissie, Jos who is already undergoing oxygen therapy for exposure to hydrogen sulphide, Andrew and his wife and of course the ubiquitous Lynn in full flow as usual.

Unfortunately some of the stalwart supporters cannot be with us this year due to their state of health. Gareth is too poorly to travel, Angela and Joyce are also in the same boat and our thoughts will be with them tommorrow as we tell our stories and share our experiences both good and bad. If you can't make the House of Lords tommorrow try and join us sometime this week you will be welcome and there may be somehow we can help.

Following what can only be described as the most positive victims event ever in the House of Lords, dominated by the most empowering presentation ever by Albert Donney. His talk which lasted some 30 minutes not only set out an easy to understand diagnostic protocol but also outlined a proven and relatively inexpensive treatment for chronic poisoning cases which appeared to be able to reduce the effects and maintain that reduction once the treatment has been discontinued.

Lynn welcomed everyone and took the opportunity to publically thank those people who had supported her since the formation of CO Awareness. Lord Mckenzie of Luton made the keynote speech in which he acknowledged the worth of the work being done by Lynn and the charity. He also voiced his sincere regret that the number of incidents and victims had shown an increase since last years event, proving that there was still a lot of work to be done to address the lack of knowledge of the various stakeholders in the problem.

We also received a presentation on the use and effectiveness mo Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy from a doctor on the staff of Whips Cross Hospital. Presentations were then made by a number of the victims assembled in the room and two of the relatives of victims. Dave Worswick gave a very poignant description of what had happened to his daughter Mary Ann and Helen spoke of the things she would like to see happento prevent others suffering the same fate as her husband Mike who died in his sleep from CO poisoning.

Asked to add some closing words I praised Albert Donney for both the hope and comfort his presentation and the talk the previuos evening in the Tavistock Hotel had bought to both the victims and myself. I also spoke of the new partnering initiatives with organisations such as the Corgi Trust, Gas Safe Register, Chartered Institute of Plumbing and Heating Engineering, the merchants represented by Debbie Sue Price of Curzon as well as personal supporters such as Chris Bielby of Centrica plc. Significant emphasis was placed on the importance of partnerships which, if organised and used properly would enable us to achieve so much more. The identification of the registered installers who interact with the public at large as the greatest weapon in the fight to improve gas safety was also emphasised and the attention of those present was also drawn to a medical presentation in the press pack that stated quite definitely that CO poisoning was the only tenable unifying diagnosis for the aggresive multiple symptom presentation which often mystified those members of the medical profession stillignorant of the effects of this type of event.

The whole event was described by many of those attending as inspirational and well worth the effort to attend.