Each year more than 100,000 people visit the emergency room, thousands are hospitalized, and more than 400 die due to unintentional carbon monoxide poisoning. The vast majority of these deaths and injuries could have been prevented with proper education and an up-to-date detector in the home.
What the Heck Is It?
Carbon Monoxide, or CO, is a toxic gas with no smell or taste. It can cause permanent brain damage or death when inhaled and is undetectable without proper detection equipment.
What Does It Do?
Children and the elderly are particularly vulnerable to poisoning, although anyone can succumb. Acute CO poisoning symptoms consist of headache, dizziness, sleepiness, and nausea. As CO poisoning progresses, it can cause convulsions, delirium, and increased heart rate. Prolonged and excessive exposure without relief inevitably causes death. Those who have been exposed and survive are at risk for permanent brain, neurological, and cardiovascular damage.
How Does It Get into the Home?
Carbon monoxide is produced whenever a material burns. The most common unintended exposure occurs in homes with fuel-burning appliances and those with attached garages. Appliances and devices like furnaces or boilers, wood and gas fireplaces, gas ranges and stoves, motor vehicles, grills and other lawn equipment, generators, and gas dryers are some of the culprits.
How Can You Protect Yourself and Your Family?
Ensure your appliances are properly vented and well-maintained and make sure rooms are ventilated when using a fuel-burning appliance. Have your appliances inspected on an annual basis to ensure they are in good condition. Never use outdoor appliances like grills and heaters indoors.
Pay attention to signs that something may be wrong with a fuel-burning appliance or venting system. Things like brownish-yellow stains around an appliance, soot or smoke buildup, or back-drafting from a chimney can all indicate a problem. You can’t rely on odor to detect it, which is why having working detectors in your home is so important.
Know the symptoms of CO poisoning and don’t ignore early signs like headache, dizziness, and nausea. If you suspect you or a family member may be experiencing symptoms, leave the home immediately and seek medical care.
Install CO detectors in your home, ensure they are properly powered, and regularly test them. Detectors are available at hardware stores for around $30. They should be placed on every level of your home including in the basement and outside of sleeping areas. And even if you have a small single-level home, install at least two detectors in case one of them is defective or stops working. Replace detectors every five to seven years.
Too many people suffer from CO poisoning when it is completely preventable.
If you don’t have carbon monoxide detectors in your home, get them today. If you have them, test them right away. We want you to be around and healthy for decades to come!
What the Heck Is It?
Carbon Monoxide, or CO, is a toxic gas with no smell or taste. It can cause permanent brain damage or death when inhaled and is undetectable without proper detection equipment.
What Does It Do?
Children and the elderly are particularly vulnerable to poisoning, although anyone can succumb. Acute CO poisoning symptoms consist of headache, dizziness, sleepiness, and nausea. As CO poisoning progresses, it can cause convulsions, delirium, and increased heart rate. Prolonged and excessive exposure without relief inevitably causes death. Those who have been exposed and survive are at risk for permanent brain, neurological, and cardiovascular damage.
How Does It Get into the Home?
Carbon monoxide is produced whenever a material burns. The most common unintended exposure occurs in homes with fuel-burning appliances and those with attached garages. Appliances and devices like furnaces or boilers, wood and gas fireplaces, gas ranges and stoves, motor vehicles, grills and other lawn equipment, generators, and gas dryers are some of the culprits.
How Can You Protect Yourself and Your Family?
Ensure your appliances are properly vented and well-maintained and make sure rooms are ventilated when using a fuel-burning appliance. Have your appliances inspected on an annual basis to ensure they are in good condition. Never use outdoor appliances like grills and heaters indoors.
Pay attention to signs that something may be wrong with a fuel-burning appliance or venting system. Things like brownish-yellow stains around an appliance, soot or smoke buildup, or back-drafting from a chimney can all indicate a problem. You can’t rely on odor to detect it, which is why having working detectors in your home is so important.
Know the symptoms of CO poisoning and don’t ignore early signs like headache, dizziness, and nausea. If you suspect you or a family member may be experiencing symptoms, leave the home immediately and seek medical care.
Install CO detectors in your home, ensure they are properly powered, and regularly test them. Detectors are available at hardware stores for around $30. They should be placed on every level of your home including in the basement and outside of sleeping areas. And even if you have a small single-level home, install at least two detectors in case one of them is defective or stops working. Replace detectors every five to seven years.
Too many people suffer from CO poisoning when it is completely preventable.
If you don’t have carbon monoxide detectors in your home, get them today. If you have them, test them right away. We want you to be around and healthy for decades to come!
World Teachers’ Day: Celebrating the World’s Teachers
