CareHomeDeskCareHomeDeskHow to respond to a gas escape, smell of gas, or CO alarm activation in a care setting. Procedures that must be in your gas safety management policy.
If staff smell gas, the correct immediate response is: do not operate any electrical switches (on or off), do not use naked flames, open all available windows and doors to ventilate the area, evacuate the affected area following the building evacuation procedure, turn off the gas supply at the Emergency Control Valve (ECV), which must be clearly labelled and accessible to all staff, and call the National Gas Emergency Service on 0800 111 999. This number is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and is free to call. The location of the ECV and this procedure must be displayed in the building and covered in staff induction.
A CO alarm activation is a gas emergency. The immediate response must be the same as for a fire: evacuate the building, do not attempt to investigate the cause, call 999 requesting the fire service, and do not allow anyone to re-enter until the building has been attended by the fire service or a Gas Safe engineer and confirmed safe. CO is colourless and odourless -- there will be no visible or olfactory warning. Residents who are unresponsive or appear unusually drowsy should be treated as potential CO poisoning casualties and medical assistance requested.
The three numbers all staff must know for gas emergencies are: 0800 111 999 (National Gas Emergency Service -- for gas escape or smell of gas), 999 (fire service -- for CO alarm activation or any gas emergency involving casualties), and your Gas Safe registered maintenance contractor for follow-up work once the emergency is resolved. Your gas safety management policy must record the name, Gas Safe registration number and out-of-hours contact number for your nominated gas maintenance contractor. This information should be displayed in the plant room and included in your gas safety file.
All care home staff -- not just facilities staff -- must be trained on gas emergency procedures as part of their induction training. The training must cover: what to do if they smell gas, what to do if a CO alarm activates, the location of the ECV in the building, and the emergency contact numbers. This training must be documented and evidence of completion retained in personnel files. Annual refresher training is best practice. Agency staff must be briefed on gas emergency procedures before commencing any shift; this briefing should be recorded.
After a gas emergency, no one should return to the building until a Gas Safe registered engineer has attended, identified and resolved the cause of the emergency, and provided written confirmation that the building is safe for reoccupation. A verbal confirmation from a contractor is not sufficient. The engineer's written report should be retained in the gas safety file. Where an appliance was isolated as part of the emergency response, it must not be reinstated until it has been formally checked and cleared by a Gas Safe engineer, regardless of how inconvenient the delay may be for building operations.
CareHomeDesk gives you compliance checklists, maintenance logs, and contractor management tools built around exactly this kind of knowledge.