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If you use gas in your home, follow the tips below to keep yourself safe - as well as warm.
Download the Home safety checker information guide (PDF 601 KB)
If you smell gas, call the gas emergency number on 0800 111 999.
If you have a gas boiler, do you regularly check that the pilot light is burning?
If you find it has gone out, there should be instructions on the boiler for how to relight it. If you cannot relight it yourself, call a heating engineer out.
You can find a qualified one in your area on the National Association of Professional Inspectors and Testers website, or call them on 0870 444 1392.
Carbon monoxide is known as a ‘silent killer’ because you can’t see, taste or smell it.
Heaters that burn gas, coal, oil or wood can give off poisonous carbon monoxide if they are not working properly. Look for a detector bearing the Kitemark and European Standard number BS EN 50291.
Symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning can be similar to cold, flu or food poisoning symptoms – headache, feeling sick, stomach ache, dizziness, sore throat and dry cough.
Unlike flu, it doesn’t cause a high temperature. More severe poisoning can lead to a fast and irregular heart beat, hyperventilating, confusion, drowsiness and breathing difficulties.
If you suspect carbon monoxide is present, call Transco on 0800 111 999 or, if you have solid fuel heating, call a solid fuel engineer. Contact the Solid Fuel Association for a list of members on 0845 601 4406.
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Our Home safety checker leaflet will help you identify and resolve any possible safety risks, helping prevent accidents around the home.
Downloads
A download is a document (like a research report, a leaflet, or an application form) that can be transferred from our website to your computer. You can download a file, view it on your screen, print it, or save it to your computer.
PDF stands for ‘portable document format’.
Most downloads on this website are PDFs. We use this format to ensure that the document looks the same on everyone’s computer (website pages, by contrast, appear differently depending on how people have set their computer up).
Computers use a program called Adobe Acrobat Reader to download PDFs. If you try clicking on a link to download a PDF and it doesn’t work, you will need to install Adobe Acrobat Reader onto your computer.
The process is quite straightforward and is free.
PDFs cannot be changed. If you need to be able to type into a downloaded document (for example, if we are offering a letter template that you need to put your name on) we will provide it as a Microsoft Word document rather than a PDF. You can then download it, type into it and save it to your computer.
Downloads will open on your computer in a new browser window.
Inside this window (below all your web browser menus), there will be a toolbar with options for you to print or save the document.
Close the browser window to return to the Age UK website.
We have made every effort to make our PDFs accessible to screen readers. Here is an overview of your accessibility options available in Acrobat Reader. Please ensure that you have downloaded the latest version of Acrobat Reader from the Adobe Reader website to ensure that they are included in your version of the programme.
You can use Adobe Reader to read a PDF out loud with the following shortcut keys:
You can also convert a PDF into a web page by following these steps:
You can convert a PDF document into a text file for use with other software and hardware such as Braille printers by opening the PDF and choosing ‘Save as text’ from the File menu.
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