Carbon Monoxide Detectors are Required for Safety
Carbon Monoxide Detectors Must be Installed to Protect
Carbon Monoxide Detectors Save Lives
Carbon monoxide detectors are critical to avoid death and injury after a carbon monoxide leak because CO is an odorless invisible gas. Carbon Monoxide Detectors are required to warn when inside air becomes toxic. A carbon monoxide detector is nothing much more complicated than a smoke detector, except that it is calibrated to alarm at the presence of carbon monoxide, not smoke. People die from carbon monoxide poisoning. Those who don’t may be left disabled for life. Even those who manage to go back to work and some semblance of normal function can look forward to increasing difficulty as they age.
Carbon Monoxide Detectors are Cost Justified
Carbon Monoxide Detectors will warn people of the presence of CO and are the only way to know that this invisible, odorless and deadly gas is present. Carbon monoxide detectors cost under $25. Shown here is a plug in Kidde detector which sells for $23 on Amazon.
All of that to avoid the $23 cost of a carbon monoxide detector. However, we recommend a more expensive detector if at all possible as the normal retail detectors won’t warn about all chronic carbon monoxide exposures. Click here for more about Chronic Carbon Monoxide Poisoning.
Any establishment where there wasn’t a carbon monoxide detector at the time of a carbon monoxide poisoning should be held liable for all death and injury, regardless of whether there is a specific state statute requiring detectors. There is a growing movement to require them in all hotel rooms with states having past such laws. Lawsuits that we have been involved in have not only changed state laws, but also saved hundreds of other school kids from a serious exposure in a poisoning event in Chicago.
The tough question on carbon monoxide detectors is whether the standard detectors are sensitive enough to prevent chronic carbon monoxide poisoning. Most standard detectors don’t alarm until there has been a consistent concentration of carbon monoxide in the room air longer than is safe. We recommend that everyone consider a detector that will alarm at much lower levels and keeps a readout of low level concentrations in the room.