Students escape toxic gas leak
A potentially deadly carbon-monoxide leak has been discovered in a student house on Cowley Road. The group of six Somerville students discovered the leak when they switched the cooker on and immediately triggered a gas detector. One of the residents of the house told The Oxford Student, “When the emergency services arrived, they said the levels of carbon monozide were exceptionally high.
“The leak could easily have gone undetected had our concerned parents not installed a gas detector in the house themselves. Otherwise it would have been almost certain death for us.” The landlord failed to provide a gas detector, forcing the students to purchase a gas alarm. Carbon monoxide is a highly toxic, colourless, odourless and tasteless gas. According to government statistics, more than 50 people die in each year from exposure to the gas.
Symptoms of mild poisoning include headaches and flu-like effects, whilst long-term exposure can be fatal. Household carbon monoxide is produced through faults in boil- ers, oil burners, water heaters and open fires. Cheap student housing is particularly vulnerable. The discovery of the leak has led to rising concerns about the safety of student housing in Oxford.
Somerville College JCR Welfare Rep Kim Phan said, “The incident is very serious, and I would definitely recommend addressing the issue at meetings. The future JCR Welfare Reps could think about providing alarms/detectors to renting students.” A spokesperson for the University told The Oxford Student,“Concerns relating to gas safety are up to the city council and the law, but we hope landlords take their responsibilities seriously.
Lynn Griffiths, President of the Campaign for Carbon Monoxide Awareness, called for landlords and the University to take the risk of carbon-monoxide poisoning seriously. “I’d personally like to see landlords include the cost of carbon monoxide alarms in their rent, or else the University should subsidise them for the students,” she said. Landlords can be liable if their tenants are affected by carbon-monoxide poisoning where negligence is proven.
Former Oxford Union President Edward Tomlinson was killed from carbon-monoxide poisoning in a Beirut hotel room last year. The Coroners’ Court ruled that the Classics graduate’s death was caused by a faulty water heater in his hotel room. The fault led to 53% carboxyhaemoglobin saturation in his body. The typical level is between 2 and 10%.
Last year, the deaths of two children who died whilst on holiday in Corfu shocked the nation when it was revealed that they had died from carbon-monoxide fumes whilst they slept in their hotel. “The leak could easily have gone undetected”
26th Apr 2007