Voluntary adoption of the new carbon monoxide safety standard has been recommended for social landlords.

The social landlords of Scotland have a good history of preventing carbon monoxide, gas and fire related injuries and fatalities; however the latest research shows that they could possibly do more to protect their residents.

This is one of the major conclusions of a new practical health and safety guide published jointly by River Clyde Homes and HouseMark Scotland.

The new report is entitled “Fire, Gas and Carbon Monoxide Safety Regulations: What Scottish social landlords need to know” and brings together guidance on all the relevant regulations in one comprehensive document.

It reports that there were around 1,100 injuries and 29 deaths recorded as a result of fires in dwellings during 2013/14 compared with over 1,500 injuries and 76 deaths recorded in 2004/05.

The data on carbon monoxide poisoning is less comprehensive, although the Health Protection Standard recorded 54 such incidents between 2002 and 2015.

The study acknowledges that awareness and management of risk related to gas, fire and carbon monoxide poisoning has shown a significant improvement in recent decades, in particular in the social housing sector.

However, it also states that although reported injuries, incidents and fatalities have decreased steadily over the last 30 years, the numbers are still too high.

The report outlines significant variations in the way gas, fire and carbon monoxide risks are managed throughout the industry and calls for a more consistent approach.

The guide particularly points out that there is no comprehensive requirement on housing association and local authority landlords to install carbon monoxide alarms in their properties, although this is now a requirement for private sector landlords.

It recommends that social landlords should adopt these new CO safety standards on a voluntary basis to avoid them having to be enforced via new regulations.