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22 January 2020 / Stephanie Trotter
Issue: 7871 / Categories: Features , Health & safety
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CO: the hidden dangers

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Carbon monoxide leakage poses serious, even lethal, risks yet there are many obstacles to bringing a legal claim, Stephanie Trotter warns
  • Outlines the obstacles to bringing a claim: proving CO poisoning can be difficult.
  • CO kills yet basic Health and Safety Commission recommendations have not been implemented.
  • About three million people, or even more in the UK could be being exposed to carbon monoxide now.

In poisoning cases, evidence of poisoning, causation and expert medical evidence are usually extremely difficult. The gas cannot be smelled, tasted, seen or touched but less than 2% of CO in the air can kill in one to three minutes. Exposure, often from faulty heating and cooking appliances, can also cause brain damage or make people very ill.

Firemen when talking about CO in smoke (which you can smell) say it takes only three breaths, the first you don’t know there’s a problem, the second you might suspect there’s something wrong but by the third you are incapable of action. Landlords are usually worth suing.

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