Carbon monoxide campaign launched to highlight BBQ dangers

The charity Carbon Monoxide Awareness has launched a campaign to highlight the dangers of carbon monoxide poisoning from barbecues, in memory of victims of poisoning including 14 year old Hannah Thomas-Jones who died on a campsite in May.

The campaign was launched in the House of Commons today (10 July) as a joint initiative between Carbon Monoxide Awareness and Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service. Several retailers including Tesco, Morrisons, Homebase and B&Q have agreed to support the campaign by putting up point-of-sale notices in their stores for barbecue equipment.

Hannah Thomas-Jones died from carbon monoxide poisoning on a campsite in Shropshire when the family left a disposable barbecue in the porch of their tent to keep them warm. Last year, Tracy Screen died in similar circumstances on a campsite in Wales when she was overcome by the fumes of a disposable barbecue brought into the tent at night for warmth.

An inquest last week found that six year old Isabelle Harris, who had collapsed and later died in hospital while on a camping trip with her parents in the New Forest at Easter, had died from carbon monoxide poisoning after a portable barbecue was brought into the tent overnight.

Lynn Griffiths, President of Carbon Monoxide Awareness, said: ‘We shall be working with Fire and Rescue services across the UK to get educational and awareness packs to the UK holiday industry for the benefit of holiday-makers. We shall also be targeting campsite owners and their staff with information on how to recognise the presence of carbon monoxide in enclosed tented areas caravans.

‘We don’t want to see another death or injury from a barbecue during a music festival, Olympics or summer holidays.’