PREVENT CARBON MONOXIDE POISONING

Carbon monoxide poisoning can strike while you're sleeping and can kill without noticeable symptoms. Carbon monoxide is a silent killer.

Even when not fatal, carbon monoxide poisoning can cause headaches, weakness, shortness of breath, nausea, and confusion.  Victims often mistake their symptoms for the flu and head to bed, failing to get out of the very building where dangerous carbon monoxide levels are causing their sickness.

Carbon monoxide detectors can alert potential victims to unsafe levels of carbon monoxide. Carbon monoxide alarms look and sound much like smoke alarms. Yet while most people would feel uneasy about being in a place without a smoke alarm, about 80 percent of U.S. homes do not have a carbon monoxide detector.

While preventing carbon monoxide build-up is key, carbon monoxide detectors can help people take quick action. A carbon monoxide alarm should be installed in the hallway near every separate sleeping area, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Carbon monoxide (CO) is an odorless, colorless gas. CO is release into the air whenever fuel is burned. Gas dryers, gas water heaters, gas stoves, gas furnaces, fireplaces, and kerosene space heaters are common carbon monoxide producers. When working properly, the amount of carbon monoxide released by these items is generally harmless. But if they malfunction or are not used in properly ventilated areas, carbon monoxide emissions can build to lethal levels. Carbon monoxide victims can be poisoned from breathing in the toxic gas.

The good news is that there are simple ways to help prevent carbon monoxide from building up to harmful levels. Such actions include:

• not idling a car in the garage, even with the garage door open
• venting fumes from gas appliances to the outside
• having a professional inspect a gas furnace before winter starts
• having a professional install appliances
• never using charcoal grills indoors
• keeping chimneys clean
• watching out for streaks of carbon or soot around the service door of fuel-burning appliances (a sign of a potential problem)
• watching for moisture collecting on the windows and walls of furnace rooms (a sign of a potential problem)

The fire department should be called any time when multiple people in a household or other building start experiencing symptoms resembling carbon monoxide poisoning. Everyone should get outside to fresh air and be checked out by medical personnel.

E-mail this article to friends with a gas furnace, a gas stove, or a gas dryer in their home. Print out a copy to post on an office bulletin board.

Forward this article to the campus safety department at your alma mater and request that it be printed in the college newspaper or included in safety information packets given to college students living in rented homes.

Insert a carbon monoxide kills icon on your webpage. People clicking on the image will go directly to important information on carbon monoxide poisoning.

In addition to installing sufficient carbon monoxide alarms at home, check with the maintenance departments at your workplace and your children's school to make sure these buildings have functioning carbon monoxide detectors.

Consider purchasing a carbon monoxide alarm as a gift for newlyweds, new parents, or new homeowners. Be sure to look for CO detectors that have a UL (Underwriters Laboratories) certification mark and the adjacent phrase "Single Station Carbon Monoxide Alarm."