“The charity is running a project with the aim of raising awareness of the signs and symptoms of Carbon Monoxide poisoning to front line staff and volunteers of charities who provide services in the homes of vulnerable people e.g. home carers, befrienders, handy-person services. Over the last few months we have worked with national charities such as Age UK, Red Cross, Royal British Legion, RVS and Alzheimers’ Society all of which have agreed to come onboard and support the project.

By briefing frontline staff and volunteers on the signs and symptoms of CO poisoning, they can raise awareness of CO with the clients they work with, be additional eyes and ears with their clients looking out for signs that CO may be present and the charity also meets its “duty of care” as they are making staff/volunteers aware of a potential risk which they may face in the course of their work/volunteering.

We have a range of materials that are available for charities to use with their staff/volunteers i.e. a 15 minute presentation that can be part of an induction programme or team briefing/training. As a result of the success of this, we have been asked to develop a training session for people in a charity who can lead on ensuring CO awareness is mainstreamed into the induction/training offered by the charity.

Age UK Milton Keynes have been a supporter of the project and have agreed to host a training event for people interested in ensuring CO awareness is mainstreamed into their organisation’s work.  The training is being held between 10.00-1.00 on Tuesday 15th September 2015 at Age UK Milton Keynes’ Peartree Centre, 1 Chadds Lane, Peartree Bridge, Milton Keynes, MK6 3EB. It’s free to attend and lunch is provided. The event is called “Carbon Monoxide Awareness”. Further details about the event and to register for it is via promotingcoawareness@gmail.com “