Holiday Hints to help you stay safe (when you get the chance to go)
Staying safe with holiday hints… doesn’t just mean making sure you have got the right insurance or not drinking the local water, though these are sound points too.
It’s about keeping vigilant and thinking about the other hidden hazards that can await us both abroad and at home. We don’t mean looking under the bed for monsters but being sensible and thinking about your environment. Here’s some holiday hints for your information.
Here we explore some of those that are related to the world of plumbing and heating. Take a look at our holiday hints to keep you safe.
Carbon Monoxide poisoning… I’m sure that’s not the first thing that you think of as you hurriedly unpack your suitcase to find your swimming costume. However, over recent years it’s hit the headlines numerous times as “the hidden killer”.
Would you know what the signs are? Did you know that it’s not only colourless, tasteless but also odourless? Not exactly easy to spot!
So, these are the signs to look out for – the longer you are exposed the worse the symptoms will be:
- Dizziness
- Confusion/disorientation
- Feeling or being sick
- Tension type headache
- Shortness of breath
- Loss of balance, vision or memory
- Tiredness
- Loss of consciousness
If there is the slightest possibility that this might be the case, you need to report this to the owner, ask to be moved to different accommodation and get yourselves checked out at a local hospital.
Top Holiday Hint: There is, however, one way you can be totally sure and that’s to take a portable CO2 detector with you, that way if the detector turns from green to red you will have a positive diagnosis and you’ll know what to do.
Legionnaires disease… Although uncommon, it is entirely possible to catch Legionnaires from a shower. The way that Legionnaires can enter the body is by way of inhaling tiny droplets of water or by coughing/choking whilst drinking water that contains the bacterium Legionella.
It is often found in places that have large ventilation systems (it is something that you can catch in the United States).
It can also be found in swimming pools, hot tubs, air conditioning systems and decorative fountains that have not been regularly cleaned.
These are the most common symptoms that occur within 2-10 days after exposure:
- Headache
- Muscle aches
- Fever of 104F (40c)
This is then followed by these signs which often appear on the second or third day after the other symptoms have appeared:
- A cough which with mucus/blood
- Shortness of breath
- Chest pain
- Gastrointestinal symptoms ie. nausea/vomiting and diarrhoea
- Confusion/mental changes
Again, if there is the slightest possibility that this might be the case, you need to report this to the owner, ask to be moved to different accommodation and get yourselves checked out at a local hospital.
If you are concerned that the place you are staying at might be a breeding ground, you can always ask when the water/heating/ventilation systems were last cleaned. Any place that is reputable will ensure that it’s hygiene standards are adhered to and should be happy to provide that information to you.
Both of these can be fatal; however, we want you to be able to relax and enjoy your holiday, not be worried about what could happen. Hopefully, by having this information to hand you will feel safer and more comfortable visiting somewhere whether home or abroad, familiar or new.
That’s all folks… Hope that these holiday hints were useful and you have a happy holiday when the time comes. Meanwhile, do get in touch if we can help with any of your plumbing, heating and gas service concerns. Always better to be safe that sorry; we’re only a phone call away.
Steve and his team are full of useful information so don’t hesitate to contact them if you are looking for holiday hints; or indeed local plumbing support.
