Every Day - Carbon Monoxide Safety Education Day - Measurement is education at its' best. - Some Early symptoms of CO poisoning include poor decision making & confusion. Don't make a poor decision, get an alarm.
Learn as you alert - carry a personal CO monitor. CO from a generator is not a silent killer, it is loud. Why choose to breathe combustion gas?
Cooking with gas stove controversy? Test your own air.
Pollution, a known a killer – unfortunately a product of economies
Carl Friedrich Gauss sourced through Brainy Quote
(1777-1855 Carl Friedrich Gauss bio link)
FOX43
A fire chief with the Washington Township Fire Department says a carbon monoxide leak broke out in the middle of the night. (See this FOX43 headline link, check for updates)
Two children were poisoned by carbon monoxide in Uzhhorod
unn.ua
The incident occurred in an apartment in a high-rise building on Svobody Avenue. The boys, born in 2021 and 2018, are currently in hospital. - "Presumably, the incident was caused by clogged ventilation, which caused combustion products to accumulate in the apartment," the SES reported. (See this unn.ua headline news link)
KIMA
TOPPENISH - Safe Haven Community Center is hosting a fire safety event and giving away fire extinguishers, smoke, and carbon monoxide detectors on Friday, May 3rd! - The community will have the chance to learn from the Toppenish Fire Department on how to use fire extinguishers and take advantage of education and resources from the American Red Cross. (See this KIMA headline news link)
PIRG
The California Assembly Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials Committee advanced a bill Tuesday that will require gas stoves sold in California come with a warning label on the health risks associated with the appliance. AB 2513, by Assembly member Gail Pellerin, will give consumers critical information to make educated purchasing decisions for their family. - Why do gas stoves need a warning label (See this PIRG headline news link)
'Andy's Law' Aims To Protect People From Carbon Monoxide On Boats
News on 6
A new state law is designed to protect people from the dangers of carbon monoxide while boating. - Andy's Law requires a warning sticker to be on display on all motorized boats on Oklahoma waters. - The law was named after a nine-year-old boy who died in 2020 on Lake Eufaula. (See this News on 6 headline news link)
BoatUS Foundation
Maintain fresh air circulation throughout the boat at all times and maintain your vessel to assure peak engine performance. An improperly tuned engine is more likely to produce elevated levels of CO. - To avoid CO you should know the areas where CO can accumulate such as inadequately ventilated canvas enclosures and engine compartments. - If you are tied to a dock be certain exhaust ports aren't blocked, which can force exhaust back into the boat and if you are rafted to another boat be certain exhaust from one boat doesn't enter the other. - Another way for exhaust to enter a boat is when a moving boat creates the station wagon effect where exhaust finds its way back aboard because of circular airflow known as back drafting. (See this BoatUS Foundation headline link)
Have you ever gone outside, taken a deep breath in, and abruptly discovered that the air was not exactly what you expected? Instead of spring flowers, the air smells like smoke and car exhaust, almost thick enough to taste. You may have found yourself wondering how breathing all of this in could possibly be good for you. And you’re right, it isn’t good for you. (See this Psychology Today headline link)
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How Many Fires Did You Start Today? We all use fire.
Population growth & density = increasing the risks.
2. There is a way for CO to escape into breathable air.
If one of these exists, you are 50% enjoined with the hazard.
A sealed combustion system is still a hazard if it generates high, harmful levels of CO. (A sealed combustion system relies on air for combustion to be drawn from an outside source directly into the pre-fire, fuel/air mixing zone and not from inside the system placement zone. The combustion exhaust is then exited to outside areas via a vent or chimney feature.)
Proper installation, proper maintenance with testing will help assure a combustion system is not generating high, harmful levels of the toxic gas carbon monoxide, and that it is not escaping into breathable air. Carbon monoxide alarms are always recommended when a combustion system is in use. A low-level CO alarm is preferred as it will alert at levels before more harmful levels are most often detected. Don’t allow poor health symptoms to be your alarm. (COSA)
Everyone has been poisoned by CO (Carbon Monoxide) and will be poisoned again. The degree of the poisoning depends upon allowing yourself to be in a situation where someone else controls the air you breathe and the mechanisms for alarming notification. May you be safe in the new year 2024.
ABC7
In the past 20 years, more than a thousand injuries from carbon monoxide leaks in U.S. hotels have been reported. The Jenkins Foundation tracks carbon monoxide incidents at popular places travelers stay. - While smoke alarms are normally required in every hotel room by law, there is no such law for carbon monoxide detectors, nor are they required by Airbnb, which has seen 10 carbon monoxide deaths in Chile and Mexico in the past five years. (See this ABC7 headline link)
Washington, D.C., Aug. 23, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today, UL Standards & Engagement (ULSE) published its updated standard for carbon monoxide alarms — UL 2034, Single and Multiple Station Carbon Monoxide Alarms — expanding coverage to non-dwelling units, namely motels, restaurants, and other indoor locations that do not have more sophisticated detection systems installed. - The change also aligns with the 2024 International Fire Code revision that requires carbon monoxide detection for commercial occupancies…. - ULSE welcomes proposals to update or develop new standards. - The change to UL 2034 was proposed by Kris Hauschildt, founder of The Jenkins Foundation, which she established after her parents, Daryl and Shirley Jenkins, lost their lives to carbon monoxide poisoning in a hotel room in Boone, N.C. (See more at this Globe Newswire headline link)
Who will be next? It is a certainty, it will be someone.
Protect yourself and others.
Doctor warns about dangers of generators due to carbon monoxide poisoning
KSLA
“If you are purchasing generators, the number one number one rule is, do not run them in your house. That is a for sure way to get carbon monoxide poisoning,” he explained. “Don’t put them in any enclosed space close to your house like a back porch, side porch [or] front porch. You want it at least 20 feet away from the house. And you don’t want it around anything that could bring exhaust into the house like a fan.” Dr. Steven Kitchings, the director Willis Knighton’s Hyperbaric and Wound Care Center (See more at this KSLA headline news link)
The most easily identifiable symptom of emerging carbon monoxide poisoning is when any fuel burning combustion system is in use. (Like automobiles, trucks, gas appliances and fireplaces, stoves, water heaters (geysers), cookers, barbeques, airplanes, generators, furnaces, space heaters, boats, campfires and…) It can happen to you. Get proper carbon monoxide alarm protection, the earlier the alarming notification the better off you and others may be.
You may need this test if your healthcare provider thinks you have CO poisoning. Symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning include: Headache - Chest pain - Altered mental status and confusion - Nausea and vomiting – Dizziness – Weakness. - - Severe poisoning can cause nervous system symptoms, such as – Seizures – Coma. - - Carbon monoxide poisoning can be hard to recognize in very young children. For example, a child may merely appear fussy and not want to eat. (See more at this Brigham and Women's Hospital headline link)
The Jenkins Foundation was formed in memory of Daryl and Shirley Jenkins who both lost their lives to carbon monoxide poisoning in a hotel room in Boone, North Carolina, on April 16, 2013. (Visit this web site)
National Library of Medicine - Lindell K Weaver
PubMed (nih.gov)
Poisoning has occurred at motels, hotels, and resorts. Congressional mandate requires smoke alarms in all guest rooms; however, smoke alarms do not detect CO. (See more at this PubMed headline news link)
OSHA.gov
… you can inhale carbon monoxide right along with gases that you can smell and not even know that CO is present. - CO is a common industrial hazard (See more at this OSHA.gov headline link)
Wear your own personal CO monitor if employer doesn’t outfit you
As winter surges, OSHA reminds employers of carbon monoxide risks when using portable generators, other equipment indoors
OSHA
U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration urges employers to take appropriate precautions to protect workers from carbon monoxide exposures in enclosed spaces. (See this OSHA headline news link)
Carbon Monoxide or CO is a toxic gas and acts like a poison with early regarded symptoms that can include dizziness, headache, confusion, head stuffiness, fatigue, upper respiratory irritation, breathing struggles, heart rate changes, nausea and vomiting. Too much CO is a quick killer. (CO Safety Series - Bob Dwyer, CSME Carbon Monoxide Safety)
Always measure air you breathe - the classroom is everywhere.
COSA - Are your symptoms flu-like? Don’t get lost in the symptoms – measure carbon monoxide. No matter what you do for a living you should know about the health impacts of carbon monoxide exposure and what your role in the prevention of poisoning. Bob Dwyer, CSME Carbon Monoxide Safety - Classroom Discussions (Video - Classroom Discussion - March 2020)
COSA
CO alarms are lab tested with certified carbon monoxide gas to help demonstrate delayed response vs rapid response to the toxic gas in this 15-minute classroom tutorial. Always asking the question "How soon would you like notification that your health is at risk from carbon monoxide exposure?"
Fire is FAST! In less than 30 seconds a small flame can turn into a major fire. It only takes minutes for thick black smoke to fill a house or for it to be engulfed in flames.
Fire is HOT! Heat is more threatening than flames. Room temperatures in a fire can be 100 degrees at floor level and rise to 600 degrees at eye level. Inhaling this super-hot air will scorch your lungs and melt clothes to your skin.
Fire is DARK! Fire starts bright, but quickly produces black smoke and complete darkness.
Fire is DEADLY! Smoke and toxic gases kill more people than flames do. Fire produces poisonous gases that make you disoriented and drowsy. Asphyxiation is the leading cause of fire deaths, exceeding burns by a 3-to-1 ratio. (Find out more at this Ready.gov headline news link)
Please read the alarm information on the package and in the instructions that come with the carbon monoxide alarm. Know that if it is a U.L. 2034 Listed product (or CSA 6.19 Listed), it is a high-level alarm that has been tested to alarm no sooner than 70 PPM at the lowest (the alarm must resist for one hour when above this level) and when over 400 PPM before 15 minutes at the highest concentration, after resisting alarming for 4 minutes when over this level.
Know when your fire department and emergency responders begin wearing their breathing apparatus and what their civilian evacuation levels are for carbon monoxide; it may be as soon as the gas is present in your presence. Pregnant women, infants & children, people with heart & respiratory struggles, those suffering depression or chronic headaches and all people of vulnerable health should be alerted as soon as the gas begins to concentrate, around 10 PPM (parts per million) or lower.
You'd prefer a low-level carbon monoxide detector to sound off when carbon monoxide hazards are just beginning, not after you’ve been exposed to levels that make you have headaches, flu-like symptoms, increased tiredness, heart stresses or worse.
Do not take risks with carbon monoxide. Take responsibility for the air you breathe and the combustion systems you are responsible for. If you don’t do it for yourself, do it for others, unless you think $45.00, high level protection is good enough.
Help prevent injuries and deaths; don’t guess about carbon monoxide. Measure carbon monoxide for safety and knowledge. The more you test the more you learn. GET BUSY -
World Population by Year
Student exercise
Think of the action “fire” and then compare your birth year (or as far back as this chart goes) with the current population. How many fires are there going in the world? Fires spawn heat. Fires spawn combustion gases. How many fires are there? How many fires do you start or share in (even electric if your electricity comes from a fossil fuel fired generation plant miles away.
Fires include heating air and water for skin warmth – heating for cooking – heating for bathing – heating for work transportation (cars trucks, trains, planes, boats, rockets) – heating for recreation extras (vehicles) – heating for funeral pyres – heating for candle ceremonies (including ambiance) – heating for melting earth minerals – heating for burning garbage heating for running errands and activities (kidding, driving errands) and many more uses for heating. That’s a lot of combustion gas in the air, collectively. (Bob Dwyer)
READ THE OWNERS MANUAL
Please note their Listed CO concentration alarm set points
NOTE: Listed U.L. 2034 & CSA 6.19 Carbon Monoxide Alarms
VISUAL DISPLAY:
Must not display under 30PPM in normal operation
AT 70, 150 & 400 PPM display must be accurate within plus or minus 30%
SENSITIVITY TESTING:
Resist alarming first times shown, must by second shown time
70PPM [PLUS OR MINUS 5PPM ... [BETWEEN 60 _ 240 MINUTES]
150PPM [PLUS OR MINUS 5PPM] ... [10 - 50 MINUTES]
400PPM [PLUS OR MINUS 10PPM ... [4 - 15 MINUTES]
Carbon Monoxide Fact Sheet - Carbon Monoxide Poisoning QuickCard™ - Portable Generators (See PDF links at this OSHA headline news link)
MEASURE or LET CARBON MONOXIDE GET THE BEST OF YOU
The Jenkins Foundation
Dozens of carbon monoxide (CO) incidents occur in U.S. hotels every year. Many of these incidents result in unnecessary harm to hotel guests, (See more of this Jenkins Foundation Data Report)
The Hair Salon and the Carbon Monoxide Ghost--Prologue; Teaching CO Safety segment, 0007BDCOSA
Carbon monoxide infiltrated a hair salon business and prompted investigators into action. Decisions, testing and precautions in place, the business reopened. Help vitalize critical thinking for the unexpected with this classroom presentation, Part 1.
The Hair Salon and the Carbon Monoxide Ghost--CO Returns; Teaching CO Safety, segment 0008BDCOSA
Precautions in place and the business reopened; the carbon monoxide incident appeared to be an anomaly in normal function of a gas water heater. But then, the carbon monoxide ghost let its presence be known, and the investigators are back at it in Part 2 of this classroom presentation.
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There is a lot to learn about carbon monoxide
COHb measurement can rule in CO poisoning but does not have the sensitivity to rule it out on its own. COHb levels do not correlate well with severity of poisoning or outcomes… (Much more at this site; view flashcard)
Story adapted by the Building Science Community of Alaska
How heat, air, and moisture works together to determine your overall home performance level. (Watch this animation - internet dropped via Kousma Insulation)
Safeguarding your family and home should be your number one priority at all times, and this is why you must not take chances in any way. - (Read more HSE, OHSA, OHS)
Please Note: "Place a carbon monoxide alarm with a digital display on a seat in the motor vehicle when you are out driving in emergency snow conditions (or always for that specific). Harmful levels of carbon monoxide (CO) can penetrate inside a motor vehicle just due to prevailing winds and exhaust not moving away from the vehicle but under it. If you want to learn more about carbon monoxide, begin measuring it with a personal CO monitor everywhere you go." Bob Dwyer, CSME Carbon Monoxide Safety
UL 2034
How much carbon monoxide are you in when in any motor vehicle?
Did you know that many people do not measure the air they breathe?
After prevention there is no greater awareness than measurement.
BLEVE (Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapor Explosion) Demonstration - How it Happens Training Video
Carbon monoxide (CO) intoxication is one of the main causes of poisoning in industrialized countries and it often leads to diagnostic errors…
Carbon monoxide intoxication.
nih.gov
However individuals with ischemic heart disease may experience chest pain and decreased exercise duration at COHb levels between 1% and 9%. COHb levels between 30% and 70% lead to loss of consciousness and eventually death…
JEMS.com - ...site has been designed with this in mind – to create a visual, interactive, educational resource which can hopefully end incidents of carbon monoxide poisoning and save lives… For more information, please visit - www.thesilentkiller.co.uk
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Carbon Monoxide Canary - music link
Who is responsible for the air you breathe?
Take control inside your homes.
-Link to: → CO alarm standards –
The lowest U.L. 2034 & CSA 6.19 carbon monoxide alarm test point is:
- 70 PPM to 149 PPM –resist one hour, must alarm before 4 hours
Please read the alarm information on the package and in the instructions. Know when your fire department and emergency responders begin wearing their breathing apparatus and what their civilian evacuation levels are for carbon monoxide; it may be before 70 PPM. It is for pregnant women, infants & children, the elderly and all people of vulnerable health. Bob Dwyer, CSME Carbon Monoxide Safety
Low-Level Carbon Monoxide Protection and TPI Model 780
COSA - Video
TPI is a long time sponsor of this CO education effort.
When does your carbon monoxide alarm? How do you test it? Are you sure it is responding to carbon monoxide in a safe, timely manner? Do you know much about your carbon monoxide alarm? This Classroom Discussion segment does highlight low-level CO protection with one of our supporter's manufactured product while it helps with CO alarm education. (View video)
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Links that may be of use or interest
- Current Data for Atmospheric CO2
- Federal Aviation Administration CO warning
- Carbon monoxide toxicity-Emergency Medicine Ireland
- Carbon Monoxide detection- National Fire Protection Association
- The World Clock - Time Zones
- Earthquake Map
- Which volcanoes are erupting now? - Volcano Discovery
- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
- World population counter
- Animal cameras - variety of locations
- American Red Cross
- Heart Rescue using an (AED)
- Air Quality Guide for Particle Pollution
- U.S. Drought Monitor
- Astronomy Picture of the Day Archive
The following companies are also acknowledged for their support of carbon monoxide safety education. They may just have what you are looking for.
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