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UTILITY Week 20th November 2015

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UTILITY WEEK | 20TH - 26TH NOVEMBER 2015 | 25 Customers SGN • Issued 3,500 CO alarms in the past year. • Participated in Gas Safety Week. • Working with a variety of organisations  in Glasgow, Perthshire, Edinburgh, Bourne- mouth and Milton Keynes to raise awareness of safety to school children, among others. • Many SGN depots give presentations to  local primary schools on gas safety. Wales & West Utilities • Proactively targets initiatives in "hotspot"  areas most at risk revealed by analysis of emergency engineers' data collected onsite. • Distributed 14,000 free alarms to vulner- able customers since RIIO-GD1 began. • Worked with the Royal Welsh College of  Music and Drama to create a 10  puppet  depicting the dangers of CO. The puppet is used to target hard to reach groups. • Works on the All Fuels Action Forum on  behalf of all GDNs to support new legislation and national policy formation. • Worked with IGEM to bring networks, ship- pers, suppliers and wider industry partners together at the National CO conference. National Grid • Works with fire services across the UK by  providing CO awareness and information for use when they go out to do safety checks. • All gas safety and gas mains replacement  engineers use the opportunity of customer contact to raise the issue of CO. Northern Gas Networks • Educates university students about the  risks of CO at freshers' fairs with educational game iCOP. • Runs regular workshops with key stage  three school children. • In 2015 completed the rollout of 1,200 Gas- coseekers to emergency CO engineers for the accurate detection of the gas during callouts. 300 alarms for National Grid 150 for NGN and WWU £352,476 estimated cost of the project Stay Gas Safe map GDNs will take advantage of the extra interest around Carbon Monoxide Awareness Week to  share hints and tips, but also to promote the gas map. This is a collaborative project with the Gas Safe Register where GDNs have pro- vided data to highlight the dangers by postal code. The online map is free and encourages users to sign up for a free gas safety check. 280,000 – visitors to the map 20,000 – gas safety check reminders set up http://staygassafe.co.uk Data provided by the networks is recorded on an online map (see above) that highlights the dangers by postal code and offers to remind visitors to get their appliances checked. Hopefully the combination of these efforts by the GDNs will bring the "silent killer" out into the open and from next year start to reduce the average of 50 deaths from CO poi- soning every year. With 47 deaths already in 2015, this year has proved equally lethal. Intelligent CO Monitor project National Grid, Wales & West Utilities and Northern Gas Networks teamed up to fund 600 smart monitors for a trial deployment in a range of social housing environments and student accommodation. The monitor manufacturer, Smart Compliance, was also responsible for installing and running the systems. One benefit for the networks is a reduc- tion in unnecessary callouts for CO emer- gencies. For landlords, the technology helps keep tenants safe while reducing the costs associated with unnecessary maintenance and callouts. National Grid said: "Because of the quick response via SMS notification, lives can be saved." The project has been extended for a fur- ther six months so the impact can be stud- ied over a full year. The networks behind the project say the monitors have brought to attention real CO incidents that could have led to poisoning. On completion, trial participants will be given the option to continue being moni- tored. The networks say they will consider the results collectively before making an informed decision about how to take the project forward as individual companies. However, the product developers say they already have "sufficient proof of concept" to approach further social housing providers and continue to roll out the product across the UK. Wales & West Utilities got the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama on board to create a 10ft-high puppet KEY NUMBERS ON MONITOR TRIAL Carbon monoxide is a colourless, odourless, toxic and flammable gas formed by the incomplete combustion of carbon. Often referred to as the silent killer.

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