Gas Safety Week 10-16th September

Every year thousands of people across the UK are diagnosed with carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning, which can be caused by unsafe central heating systems, gas cookers or gas fires. Gas Safety Week which takes place from 10th – 16th September 2012 aims to raise awareness of gas safety and the importance of taking care of your gas appliances.

Metropolitan put the safety and well-being of our residents as an utmost priority. It is a legal requirement that Metropolitan carry out safety checks on gas boilers, cookers and appliances which we own every year. We use qualified Gas Safe registered engineers to carry out the checks to help keep you and your home safe. Badly fitted and poorly serviced appliances can cause gas leaks, fires, explosions as well as carbon monoxide poisoning.

We will write to you before your annual check is due with an appointment time and date. If you need to change this appointment, you must contact us to arrange a more convenient time. The inspection will take 20-40 minutes and your smoke alarms will also be tested.

It is your responsibility as a tenant to allow us access tot he property to carry out maintenance or safety checks on appliances and/or flues that we provide for your use. If you fail to provide access, this is a breach of your tenancy agreement and will result in legal action to obtain access. Any legal costs incurred to obtain access will be your responsibility.

Follow these tips to keep you and your family SAFE:

• give our Gas Inspectors annual access to undertake a gas safety inspection
• if you own any gas appliances installed in the property, you must ensure that these are maintained and checked by a Gas Safe registered engineer every 12 months
• install an audible carbon monoxidealarm
• look out for warning signs that your gas appliances aren’t working correctly e.g. lazy yellow or orange flames instead of crisp blue ones, black marks on or around the appliance and too much condensation in the room. If you are in doubt about the safety of your gas equipment, it should be turned off and not used until it has been checked.