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One major danger in the home, which is perhaps the most overlooked, is the possibility of carbon monoxide poisoning, yet to fit a carbon monoxide gas analyzer, which resembles a household smoke alarm, will alert you to any risk of this gas being present, is a very short task and these devices are very affordable, so there is really no excuse not to protect yourself and your family from this deadly danger within your home.

Carbon monoxide is produced from the burning of fossil based fuels such as oil, coal or gas etc ' and whilst appliances in your home which are capable of releasing carbon monoxide (CO) gas into the atmosphere are fine if installed and operated correctly, like for example a gas cooker or a oil burning boiler, they can be fatal if not. Being transparent, this by product also has no taste or smell which makes it virtually impossible to detect naturally and signs of exposure could possibly occur at a stage which is too late to react. With mild exposure you may have symptoms such as sore eyes and a runny nose, possibly similar to a cold and as the levels of CO rise the symptoms would start to become more severe and move on to vomiting and dizziness which eventually would lead to sleepiness which is when extreme exposure has the chance to cause brain damage and will more often than not result in the exposure turning fatal. As stated above this is why CO is so dangerous, it basically sends you to sleep totally unaware that you are being poisoned as you cannot smell or taste the gas.

If exposed to CO and inhaled basically the carbon monoxide prevents full oxygen delivery to several parts of the body and most seriously to major organs like the heart or brain, which require the highest amounts of oxygen. In normal conditions it is thought you would find around 0.1ppm (parts per million ' compared to air) of CO in the atmosphere, which occurs naturally and general opinion on exposure and toxicity seems to be levels of up to 5ppm for levels in general households rising up to around 15ppm around properly installed appliances being used correctly and in good working order within the same households. Above these levels the toxicity starts to show effects, it is not advised to being exposed to 50ppm of CO for a period of 8 hours or more, and as this concentration level rises, the effects become faster, at 200ppm you can expect a headache after around 2 hours exposure, at 400ppm you can expect the headache after around 45 minutes, at 800ppm you can expect to be vomiting and dizzy within the same 45 minutes, at 1600ppm this time span reduces to 20 minutes and death will occur in approximately 2 hours, at 6400ppm the effects will show after 1 to 2 minutes and death in approximately 20 minutes and finally at 12800ppm you will collapse after a couple of breaths and die within 3 minutes !

In cases of exposure you should aim at getting anyone who has suffered from inhalation of carbon monoxide to an uncontaminated area, preferably outside, without putting yourself in any danger of exposure, loosen any clothing which will assist breathing and let them rest, exertion speeds up the absorption into the body, if unconscious administer the appropriate first aid and in all instances medical attention is recommended. Remember early detection could help avoid these instances, fit a carbon monoxide gas analyzer.