Kidde customer Wheatley Group has seen its commitment to gas and CO safety recognised by a series of recent awards.
A key component of Wheatley’s success is installation of 10-year guaranteed CO alarms from Kidde, resulting in substantial cost savings and a reduced carbon footprint.
Wheatley Group – which currently comprises five social housing landlords, a care organisation and two commercial subsidiaries – is named after John Wheatley, the Glasgow MP who became known as the father of social housing. The Group spans 12 local authority areas across Central Scotland, providing homes and award-winning services to over 100,000 people.
As part of its commitment to gas safety, Wheatley has now completed installation of CO alarms in all 29,055 Group gas properties. The Group is realising major savings using Kidde’s 10LLCO carbon monoxide alarms, enjoying a full 10-year guarantee covering both alarm and sealed-in lithium battery.
The 10LLCO alarm and its digital equivalent 10LLDCO are small in size with a slim profile and can be wall-mounted or used free standing. They are simply activated by the slide-on back plate, so preserving battery freshness until needed, and a tamper resisting self-locking installation system avoids battery theft. The CO sensors – the key component – are actually tested throughout a 10-year period or longer. Allowing tighter quality controls to be applied, Kidde manufactures its own sensors, based on environmentally friendly de-ionised water. An event activity data log for each alarm is available, upon request from Kidde.
Wheatley Group Gas Contract Manager Kenny Brown commented: “By changing to Kidde’s 10LLCO alarms – we have made substantial cost savings over 10 years across the entire Group as we have reduced our installs by 19,370 units. We have also reduced our carbon footprint, as one 10LLCO alarm now replaces the 1.7 shorter life units previously required. The majority of the cost saving is reinvested in various gas safety initiatives aimed at our tenants as well as members of the public generally.”
Kenny Brown was presented with the overall 'UK President’s Awards for Outstanding Contribution by an Individual' at the Association of Gas Safety Manager (AGSM) awards in April. The first person in Scotland to achieve a VRQ Level 4 qualification for Gas Safety Management in Social Housing, he is also Chairperson for the Scottish AGSM forum.
At the same event, Wheatley Group received the 'President’s Award for Regional Organisation of the Year Scotland' for achieving and maintaining 100% legal compliance and ensuring CO alarms were fitted and maintained in all gas properties. The AGSM also named Wheatley as joint winner of the 'Gas Safety Training Programme for Organisational Staff 2015'.
