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A BIT of ingenuity meant that winter safety advice and support was given to the people of Oldham while they were out doing their Christmas shopping.

Shoppers and residents were able to have their electric blankets tested and talk to a range of experts at the unit in Spindles during one of the busiest shopping weeks of the year.

The week of activities was the idea of Chadderton Station Manager John Lake, who worked closely with Spindles management to get the project up and running.

It allowed Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service's Oldham Borough to reach people it might not be able to in other ways and involve them in important prevention work.

Firefighters, community safety teams and volunteers spoke to shoppers about home safety and talked about the use of smoke alarms, fire escape routes and causes of fires such as chip pans and arranged Home Fire Safety Checks.

Oldham Council had representatives there to talk to people about benefits and services, Age Concern had a stall and staff to talk to older people, the NHS was involved and one of the biggest attractions of the week was electric blanket testing on Wednesday, December 14.

Spindles Town Square Shopping Centre supported the entire event and services and items that were given out to shoppers such as carbon monoxide detectors were donated by charities and suppliers.

Chadderton Station Manager John Lake said: "It's all about winter wellbeing and ensuring our communities are as safe as possible in these colder months.

"But this needs to be set in context - residents need to have the right tools and support so they can look after themselves in the colder months and that's the point of getting all these different organisations under one roof.

"By working together, each organisation can be more effective in what it is trying to do. For example, if older people have access to the right funding to heat their homes they are better able to put fire prevention advice into practice - such as putting their heating on rather than sitting up close to a small heater.

"Whatever attracts someone into this shop, they get the chance to go away with so much more and that's a rare opportunity."

In the first three days, the GMFRS Oldham staff had given out more than 50 life-saving carbon monoxide detectors, replaced 40 chip pans with thermostat controlled deep fat fryers and expected to organise in the region of 200 Home Fire Safety Checks by the end of the week.

Anyone who did not manage to make it to the shop in Spindles can still speak to GMFRS about winter safety - for a free Home Fire Safety Check, which includes the fitting of smoke alarms for free, call 0800 555 815 or go to www.manchesterfire.gov.uk/fire_safety_advice/home_fire_risk_assessments.aspx

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"PINK and blue don't go through" is the motto with electric blanket testing, according to expert Clive MacDonald.

Clive's firm GEMS was the specialist firm brought in to test the hundreds of electric blankets brought into the Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service Oldham Borough shop in Spindles.

Anyone who brought a blanket in could have it tested free of charge and, if it failed to be of an acceptable standard, have it replaced on the spot.

Of those that were tested on Wednesday, December 15, Clive expected 40 per cent to fail.

The most common problem is that age is not kind to electric blankets: the overheat protection can stop working, the glue that holds the heating mechanism inside the blanket breaks down making it unsafe and the electrical supply wire stiffens and breaks.

Therefore, no blanket more than 12 years old will be tested and is immediately replaced.

Many people still have blankets that were recalled by the makers and were simply never aware of the recall so those are automatically replaced - Clive has made it his job to know which those are and build up a database of them.

Clive said: "Traditionally, electric blankets have been very dangerous but, as the technology has developed, safety has improved since the mid 1980s.

"Now you can have them on all night because of things like overheat protection.

"But we still get lots of old ones being brought in because there is a real sentimental value attached to them - electric blankets were given wedding presents years ago and people want to hang on to them."

One man brought in a blanket that was pink and blue, which immediately identified it as far too old to go through, and the Concorde branding led Clive to believe that the blanket was from around 1969 when the aircraft launched and captured the public's imagination.

The failed blankets then had the leads cut off and will be donated to the Pennine Pen Cat Rescue.

Last update: 23/12/2011 11:46:11