SafetyIssues Personal and Public Safety News Articles: Beware of Lethal Gases in Your Home

Beware of Lethal Gases in Your Home
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Staff writer for safetyissues.com on 08/21/07 04:20:00
 
In Blacksburg, Va., five Virginia Tech students, all women, were discovered
Sunday, Aug. 19, unconscious in their beds, in their rooms at an off-campus
apartment. Two of the students were in critical condition, while the three
others were stable but still in serious condition. Fourteen other people living
in the same apartment complex were brought to the hospital for treatment before
they were released.
The women had been sickened by carbon monoxide leaking from a faulty water
heater valve in their apartment. The Blacksburg Fire Department found 500 parts
per million (ppm) of carbon monoxide in their apartment interior air. The safe
limits are only 50 ppm, while people begin experiencing carbon monoxide
poisoning symptoms at 25 ppm.
About three weeks ago in New York, a 19-year-old teenager was found dead of
carbon monoxide poisoning on Aug. 2, and seven family members had to be
hospitalized. The electrical service to their residence had been shut down, and
the head of the household had borrowed a gasoline-powered generator.
The generator was placed, without vents, in the basement of the house. It was
operated overnight to power a computer and some appliances. The teenager had
gone down at dawn to shut off the generator, but was found unconscious on the
kitchen floor about five hours later at 8 a.m. Police said the teenager was
pronounced dead shortly after reaching the hospital. Carbon monoxide levels in
the house reached 500 ppm.
A few days earlier, on July 30 at an Aquapalooza event in Stafford, Md., four
people on a boat experienced symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning. They were
rescued by fire-rescue units. They were using a generator on the boat.
The National Fire Protection Association warns that cooking and heating
equipment, electric generators, camp stoves, motor vehicles should be used
properly to avoid carbon monoxide poisoning. The symptoms of poisoning include
dizziness, severe headaches, and nausea and are very similar to symptoms of flu
and food-poisoning.
Some safety measures to follow, to minimize the dangers of carbon monoxide are:
* Use generators outdoors; never use them inside homes or enclosed garages.
* Use fuel-burning equipment carefully. Never bring barbecue grills indoors.
* Have heating equipment examined at least once a year to check for malfunctions
and damage.
* Put a carbon monoxide detector near sleeping areas, and test it regularly.