CO (Domestic Gas Safety) Sub Group Activities
The CoGDEM CO Sub Group includes manufacturers and industry experts who focus on developing policy and standards to increase awareness and public safety for CO poisoning. CO continues to affect thousands of individuals in domestic environments, resulting in many needless deaths each year. CoGDEM members help to reduce CO incidents by offering CO detectors for consumers, CO testing equipment for service engineers and medical professionals, and by testing gases to verify FGA and CO alarm accuracy.
The CO sub Groups has many responsibilities which are reviewed and discussed at each CoGDEM CO Sub Group meeting:
- Lobbying the UK government for improving domestic gas safety
- Participating in the All Party Parliamentary CO Group
- Publicising the dangers of CO poisoning and operating the CO Helpline
- Supporting and helping to organise the Gas Safety Awareness Week
- Educating through social media and conferences including WWEM
- Participating on national and regional standards committees
- Working with other organisations including HSE, GASG and STA
CoGDEM activities to help consumers
CoGDEM helped create for consumers Europe's first standard for CO detectors (BS 7860, published in 1996) and is pushing for the mandatory installation of CO detectors in Houses of Multiple Occupation (HMO) and local authority housing organisations. European standard BS EN50291 was subsequently published, giving confidence to consumers for CO alarm performance and reliability.
CoGDEM also supports the UK's All Party Parliamentary Carbon Monoxide Group and is an active member of the CO All Fuels Action Forum, ensuring that Parliamentarians are engaged in activities that improve protection against CO poisoning risks to all citizens.
CoGDEM activities to help service engineers
CoGDEM helped create Europe's first portable Flue Gas Analyser standard (BS 7927, published in 1998) now superseded by the European standard BS EN 50379. CoGDEM was also a major contributor to the user standard BS 7967 and a similar European Technical Specification, TS 50612, and worked with the industry to produce codes of practice for the mandatory use of FGAs by engineers installing, commissioning, and servicing gas heating appliances.
CoGDEM parliamentary activities
"CoGDEM represents its members in both the UK parliament and European parliament, working with All Party Groups and MEP’s. CoGDEM is seen as a non-commercial advisor on CO alarms, standards, regulations, awareness, and safety promotion, and works with a number of government departments and charities involved with CO. CoGDEM has been successful promoting additional awareness and safety within UK and through European regulations such as GAR and landlord requirements for CO alarms.”
In Europe CoGDEM has partnered with FIGAWA, a German Gas Safety trade association. Additionally, working with our Brussels-based agency, we continue holding annual CO round table events within the European Parliament, conduct media monitoring across Europe, and continue influencing and engaging with MEP’s on regulations & directives.
