Never leave a vehicle running in a garage. Never use gas space heaters while you are sleeping, and only ever use them in well ventilated spaces. Only ever use petrol and diesel generators outdoors and well away from open windows and doors. Ventilation: Never use camp stoves, barbecues or charcoal heaters indoors or in tents. And look out for soot around appliances and pilot lights that go out frequently. During the rest of the year, check that gas flames are blue and not yellow or orange. Maintenance: Make sure your vehicles, boilers, chimneys, generators and space heaters are inspected and maintained by a qualified technician at least once a year. Keeping safeĬarbon monoxide poisoning is deadly, but it can also be easily avoided. However, officials are still investigating and are yet to confirm the cause of these tragic deaths. This is especially dangerous if generators, charcoal burners or barbecues are used in confined and poorly ventilated spaces such as tents and bars which allow CO to build up in the space with deadly consequences.Įarly media reports suggest that carbon monoxide caused the deaths of 21 young people at a tavern (club) in South Africa’s Eastern Cape province in June. This frequently occurs when wood, coal and charcoal fires are left to smoulder, or petrol, gas and kerosene appliances (such as boilers and space heaters) are not maintained properly. So how can we avoid being poisoned by this gas? Carbon monoxide is produced at high levels when fuels aren’t burnt correctly. Higher doses result in loss of consciousness, long term heart and brain damage and death. So low level poisoning is often overlooked. These are quite general and are easily confused with viral infections, food poisoning or just being tired. The early symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning include headaches or dizziness, breathlessness, nausea, tiredness, chest and stomach pains and visual problems. This means it blocks the haemoglobin’s ability to bind oxygen and limits the body’s ability to move oxygen around the body. Carbon monoxide also binds to haemoglobin, and it sticks over 200 times stronger than oxygen. Normally haemoglobin in your blood binds oxygen as it passes through your lungs and then releases it where it is needed in the various organs of your body. Author provided Carbon monoxide poisoningĬarbon monoxide poisoning results from the way it interacts with proteins that carry oxygen around your body. Workplace exposure is calculated by taking an average over a specified period of time.Carbon dioxide (top) and carbon monoxide (bottom). WELs are limits to airborne concentrations of hazardous substances in the workplace and are set in order to help protect the health of workers. The HSE publication ' EH40/2005 Workplace exposure limits' provides workplace exposure limits (WELs) for CO 2. In GB, CO2 is classed as a 'substance hazardous to health' under the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 (COSHH). It is also possible for CO 2 to accumulate in trenches or depressions outside following leaks and this is more likely to occur following a pressurised release where the released CO 2 is colder than the surrounding air. Since CO 2 is heavier than air, fatalities from asphyxiation have occurred when, at high concentrations, it has entered confined spaces such as tanks, sumps or cellars and displaced Oxygen. As the concentration CO 2 in air rises it can cause headaches, dizziness, confusion and loss of consciousness. CO 2 is not flammable and will not support combustion. At room temperature and atmospheric pressure CO 2 is a colourless and odourless gas and, because of this, people are unable to see it or smell it at elevated concentrations. However, CO 2 is naturally present in the air we breathe at a concentration of about 0.037% and is not harmful to health at low concentrations. For over a century CO 2 has been recognised as a workplace hazard at high concentrations.
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