A NORTH-EAST college is extending a training centre for gas fitters in bid to reduce gas deaths in the home.

Newcastle College will refurbish and extend its gas training centre to enable more gas fitters in the region to attend refresher courses.

Since the late 1990s, fitters have been required by law to undertake a core domestic gas safety refresher course every five years. College managers estimate that a significant number of the region's fitters will need to renew their qualifications in 2002 or risk losing their registration in the trade.

The Northern Echo launched its Silent Killer campaign after it emerged that 50 people a year die from carbon monoxide poisoning in the home. A high profile North-East case was that of Durham University student Anne Brennan, 19, who died in a shared house in 1995.

Newcastle College's training courses comply with the National Accredited Certification Scheme. The three week courses cost £350 and begin on January 14.

For more information, call the School of Construction on 0191-200 4058.