Gas Detection Council supports Dutch Safety Board’s call for mandatory certification of gas appliance installers & more reliable approach to testing CO Alarms in the Netherlands

  • The DSB launches a study looking into causes of carbon monoxide (CO) accidents
  • Such accidents cause 5 – 10 deaths and several hundred cases of poisoning each year in Holland
  • The risk of CO poisoning is present in over 90% of Dutch homes with gas installations
  • CoGDEM stresses importance of full compliance of CO alarms available on EU market to EN 50291

20 November 2015, Amsterdam

The Council of Gas Detection & Environmental Monitoring (CoGDEM) endorses the Dutch Safety Board’s recommendation to introduce new regulations and monitoring to ensure compliance with minimum safety requirements in homes with gas installations.

The Dutch Safety Board (DSB) released its study “Carbon monoxide: Understated and misunderstood danger” – see this webpage & short summary in English – looking at causes of carbon monoxide (CO) accidents in the Netherlands.

The Dutch Government is obliged to reply within 6 months.

According to DSB, all parties involved, from residents and home owners to installers, manufacturers, government bodies and emergency services, lack sufficient knowledge of the scope of this problem, which presents a risk in over 90% of Dutch homes with gas installations.

The Safety Board says installers do not check if the entire installation is functioning safely in conjunction with the building’s system and points out installers are not always fully competent, concluding existing safeguards to ensure acceptable quality standards among installers are insufficient.

Under current legislation and regulations in the Netherlands, combustion installations are required to function safely in conjunction with the building’s system but DSB emphasizes Government exercises almost no supervision to enforce compliance in practice.

CoGDEM supports DSB call for harmonised, high quality training & qualification standards for installers & heating engineers

In Holland and Europe, installers and heating service engineers should be required to have annual registration and undergo regular competency testing – as in the UK through the ‘Gas Safe Register’ system. This would also ensure they use appropriate test equipment such as EN50379 approved portable Flue Gas Analysers after installing, commissioning and servicing appliances.

DSB says stronger collaboration between manufacturers of products (such as appliances and portable flue gas analysers) and installation service industry is necessary to ensure foolproof gas installations – and therefore higher CO safety.

CoGDEM supports DSB call for integrated approach to test reliability of CO Alarms

DSB urges the Dutch Government to establish additional legal requirements, possibly in a European context, to ensure CO Alarm reliability. The study says some CO alarms suggest they are approved to European standard EN 50291 in their label but do not comply with this requirement.

CoGDEM has always called for mandatory compliance & testing of all CO Alarms to EN 50291 and seeks their mandatory installation in any home using fossil fueled appliances.

Note to editors

The Council of Gas Detection and Environmental Monitoring (CoGDEM) trade association represents eight companies in Holland – EI Electronics, Fireblitz, Honeywell, Chubb, Sprue and Brigon, Kane & Testo – focused on eliminating the danger of carbon monoxide (CO) by promoting CO alarms & portable flue gas analysers independently approved to European Safety Standards EN 50291 & EN 50379 respectively.

CoGDEM was founded over 40 years ago to represent industrial gas detection companies and now also represents almost all approved CO alarms & portable Flue Gas Analysers suppliers in the UK.

For more information, see www.cogdem.nl, www.cogdem.org.uk or email [email protected] or [email protected]