Carbon Monoxide Safety

El Paso County, CO, November 20, 2014 – The Pikes Peak Regional Building Department (PPRBD) and El Paso County Public Health are stepping up their efforts to prevent carbon monoxide poisonings by equipping all building inspectors and El Paso County Public Health inspectors with carbon monoxide detectors and urging all residents to equip their homes and places of work with carbon monoxide alarms.

Pikes Peak Mechanical Contractors Association, Intellitec College, Regional Building and the national Carbon Monoxide Safety Association (COSA) teamed up to purchase and donate 15 of the highly sensitive “low level” personal detectors to El Paso County Public Health workers who regularly inspect restaurants, child care centers and swimming pools. “We perform about 6-thousand on site inspections each year and this is a great opportunity for us to provide an additional level of public safety,” said Environmental Health Services Director Tom Gonzales.
More than 50,000 people are treated in emergency rooms each year for C.O. poisoning.

Symptoms
Symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning vary by the amount of CO absorbed into the bloodstream. Children, pregnant women, the elderly and people with respiratory or heart problems are at greater risk. Trained medical professionals can check patients for CO poisoning with a simple test but diagnosis of carbon monoxide poisoning based solely on symptoms is not reliable.

Mild exposure (low levels of exposure)
· Slight headache
· Nausea
· Vomiting
· Fatigue
Medium exposure (low levels of exposure, before U.L. 2034 alarms sound)
· Severe headache
· Drowsiness
· Confusion
· Rapid heart rate
Severe exposure
· Unconsciousness
· Convulsions
· Cardiac/respiratory failure
· Death

For more information, contact:
PPRBD (719) 327-2880
If it's an emergency, Dial 911