October 24, 2011

“The great aim of education is not knowledge but action.”
Herbert Spencer (1820-1903)

COSA NOTES:
What can I do to protect myself and my family from carbon monoxide?
Have carbon monoxide alarms in your house or apartment. Make sure one of them is a low level monitor that begins alarming as early as 10 PPM of CO or earlier. You should not have to experience headaches or flu-like symptoms before the alarm notifies you of the gas presence.

It is highly recommended that if unvented combustion systems are used indoors (not COSA recommended) that they be used with caution and with carbon monoxide alarms and perhaps CO2 (carbon dioxide) monitors to ensure healthy air. When measuring carbon dioxide, make sure you compare your inside air with air found outside.

Don’t start and leave running cars, generators, snow blowers, trucks, or other vehicles in an enclosed area especially the garage or close to openings in the house. Even with the big doors open it can still be dangerous. CO can also get into rooms above the garage! Keep generators far away from windows, doors and other entries into buildings.

Gas & oil furnaces and water heaters and fireplace chimneys can get blocked by snow, bird nests or accidental clogging and can result in carbon monoxide production and eventual poisoning.

Have your furnace and other fuel burning appliances tested and inspected by a qualified professional once a year or before each heating season to each manufacturer’s measurable standards found in the instructions. You should receive a measurement report verifying what tests were taken and the results. A certified professional should have a variety of certifications and continuing education credentials available for consumer viewing. The real certification is in the work performed that is verified and documented. Don’t assume classroom certifications achieved by heating contractors equal work performed. The technicians still has to do the work & conduct the tests. If they don’t or can’t, don’t pay for the service. Find out what tests will be performed before you schedule service.

Don’t wait until illness symptoms occur or until something breaks! Have your appliances checked at least annually. Get a baseline on your house and your family. BE SAFE! If you are sick with symptoms known to be related to carbon monoxide exposure, go to the doctor and get tested.

It is very important to know that CO Alarms Listed by the UL 2034 Standards may not be the best for some people of vulnerable health. They are not required to sound off until 70 PPM of CO is present for as long as 4 hours. They do not meet OSHA workplace standards for alarming. The test button does not tell you the sensor works, just that the audible sound works.

U.L. 2034 requires listed alarms to notify consumers by product package instructions that suggest people of vulnerable health use a better alarm than that listed as U.L. 2034. COSA describes these people to include: pregnant women, infants and people with heart or respiratory complications, chronic depression or similar symptoms described on this link as related to carbon monoxide poisoning.

Chicago Sunday Update
Carbon monoxide leak sends 4 to area hospitals
WGNtv.com
Four people were treated at area hospitals because of a carbon monoxide leak this afternoon, Fire Department officials said. Firefighters were called to a home in the 2100 block of North Bingham Street about 5:15 pm, where they discovered several ...

Coroner’s Report, Tennessee
Carbon Monoxide ruled as cause of death to five adults at Clarksville Speedway
The Tennessean
The September deaths of five people found inside a camper at Clarksville Speedway in September were caused by acute carbon monoxide toxicity, according to the city's police department. The five adults who died were between ages 27 and 39 and attending ...