Common causes of carbon monoxide poisoning include:

Furnaces/HVAC Units
Space Heaters
Hotels/Resorts
Boating
Aviation/Airplanes
Air Crashes
Warehouse Workers
Propane Devices
Generators

PREVENTION: While no prevention technique is foolproof, smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors can make a difference in your home. But as with all prevention devices, if such devices are not properly maintained - the batteries kept fresh, or disconnected - they won’t make a difference.

One of the most serious situations for accidental carbon monoxide poisoning is in space heaters in rental apartments or in hotel rooms. Space heaters are not just something found in older apartments. Stand alone heating units also include on the wall heating systems (typically without thermostats) that you find in a high percentage of hotel rooms.

When you stay in a hotel room with an older type system it is a good policy to check to see if there is a carbon monoxide detector in the room. One recommendation is to travel with a portable carbon monoxide detector, as only a few states have a law requiring CO detectors in hotels, and none in all rooms. Hotels

WARNING: Older ski resorts have some of the worst safety records, so be particularly cautious there.

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HOW DO PEOPLE GET CARBON MONOXIDE POISONING?

Some of the common sources of carbon monoxide poisoning are unvented space or kerosene heaters, furnaces, water heaters, gas stoves, fireplaces, woodstoves, blocked chimneys and emissions from vehicles left running in attached garages. In almost all cases, proper maintenance of these devices and care in providing adequate air flow and ventilation can avert tragedy.

Other sources? Cars, boats, portable electric generators.  Hotels and motels are another area of concern.

Carbon monoxide poisoning is a substantial danger to people throughout the world. It is the leading cause of deaths due to poisoning. This invisible killer has a presence in every home due to the prevalence of combustion products and their potential for failure.

Carbon monoxide is a colorless, odorless gas that interferes with the delivery of oxygen throughout the body. Exposure to carbon monoxide can result in a variety of symptoms from headaches, weakness, lethargy, nausea, confusion, disorientation and seizure to fatality. The symptoms are often mistaken for flu or food poisoning. Persons with existing heart conditions may experience increased chest pain. Those particularly sensitive to the effects of carbon monoxide poisoning include  those with a history of heart or respiratory disease, the elderly, persons suffering from anemia, infants and fetuses.

Some of the common sources of carbon monoxide poisoning are unvented space or kerosene heaters, furnaces, water heaters, gas stoves, fireplaces, woodstoves, blocked chimneys and emissions from vehicles left running in attached garages. In almost all cases, proper maintenance of these devices and care in providing adequate air flow and ventilation can avert tragedy.

Click Here for the EPA’s suggested precautions for reducing exposure to combustion products in the home.

In your home, you can decrease the risk by insuring that combustion products are properly installed, maintained and operated. A brochure addressing commonly-asked questions is available at:

CPSC Document #452 - www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/pubs/452.htm

In addition to taking precautions in respect to combustion products in our homes, we can also further insure our safety by creating good airflow and proper ventilation. Carbon monoxide detectors are cheaply and readily available for installation. Some states, suc\h as Massachusetts, have enacted legislation requiring carbon monoxide detectors in addition to smoke detectors.

Once aware of the dangers of carbon monoxide, we can practice due care in our own homes and take the necessary steps to safeguard ourselves and our families from this invisible danger. But what happens when we relinquish this responsibility to someone else? Most of us have stayed in a hotel, motel or some sort of public or private facility outside the scope of our own due care. We assume that such facilities, if anything, have a greater responsibility to address safety issues or potential health risks.  Yet there are no national laws requiring the installation of CO detectors in hotel rooms, and only a few states have any regulations on CO in the lodging industry.  Link: carbon_monoxide_hotels.html

Further Steps to Reduce Exposure to Carbon Monoxide

It is most important to be sure combustion equipment is maintained and properly adjusted.  Vehicular use should be carefully managed adjacent to buildings and in vocational programs.  Additional ventilation can be used as a temporary measure when high levels of CO are expected for short periods of time.

1. Keep gas appliances properly adjusted.
2. Consider purchasing a vented space heater when replacing an unvented one.
3. Use proper fuel in kerosene space heaters.
4. Install and use an exhaust fan vented to outdoors over gas stoves.
5. Open flues when fireplaces are in use.
6. Choose properly sized wood stoves that are certified to meet EPA emission standards. Make certain that doors on all wood stoves fit tightly.
7. Have a trained professional inspect, clean, and tune-up central heating system (furnaces, flues, and chimneys) annually. Repair any leaks promptly.
8. Do not idle the car inside garage.

NEXT: CARBON MONOXIDE - DEFECTIVE PRODUCTS

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What should I do if I suspect CO in my home?

• Leave your home immediately.
• Call 911 or Poison Control from your cellphone or from a neighbor's house after you have left your house. Seek medical attention.
  
• Call the local fire department to test for CO, or
  call your fuel supplier or licensed
  heating contractor for an
  emergency inspection.

Carbon Monoxide is referred to as CO, because that is the chemical symbol of the molecule, being one atom short of the less deadly, and natural element of the combustion cycle, carbon dioxide, CO2. CO occurs as the result of incomplete combustion, where instead of the normal combustion process, where the fuel containing the carbon atom, combines with two oxygen atoms, only one oxygen atom attaches to the carbon atom, hence CO. The existence of this toxic molecule in the bloodstream, causes potentially catastrophic consequences to the human body, including rapid death.

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