January is the deadliest month for
Carbon Monoxide Poisoning
Carbon monoxide, or “CO”, is an odorless, colorless gas that can kill you. Learn how to protect your place of business from this silent killer.
Where is CO found?
CO is found in fumes produced any time you burn fuel in cars or trucks, small engines, stoves, lanterns, grills, fireplaces, gas ranges, or furnaces. CO can build up indoors and poison people and animals who breathe it.
What are symptoms?
The most common symptoms of CO poisoning are headache, dizziness, weakness, upset stomach, vomiting, chest pain, and confusion. CO symptoms are often described as “flu-like.” If you breathe in a lot of CO it can make you pass out or kill you. People who are sleeping or drunk can die from CO poisoning before they have symptoms.
Who is at risk?
Everyone is at risk for CO poisoning. Infants, the elderly, people with chronic heart disease, anemia, or breathing problems are more likely to get sick from CO. Each year, more than 400 Americans die from unintentional CO poisoning not linked to fires, more than 20,000 visit the emergency room, and more than 4,000 are hospitalized.
Health information provided by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Prevent carbon monoxide poisoning
Carbon monoxide is a colorless, odorless, tasteless, and potentially dangerous gas. You can’t see it or smell it. It is a by-product from the incomplete burning of carbon-containing fuels such as coal, gasoline, kerosene, natural gas, oil and wood.
To protect your employees and customers in your business, you need to have detectors in place and inspected regularly.
Integrated Smoke & Carbon Monoxide Detectors
Integrated smoke and carbon monoxide detectors bring advanced multi-sensing technology to practical designs that increase efficiency, save installation time, cut costs, and extend life safety and property protection capabilities. Continuous self-diagnostics ensure reliability over the long-haul and environmental compensation helps reduce maintenance costs. Multi-sensor technology provides efficient identification of smoldering fires, as well as fast flaming fires.
With the added element of carbon monoxide monitoring, smart detectors continually monitor the environment for signs of smoke and fire — as well as its invisible yet deadly companion, carbon monoxide. Commercial carbon monoxide detectors gather analog information from its sensing elements and convert this data into digital signals. Digital filters remove signal patterns that are not typical of fires, thus virtually eliminating unwanted alarms. Smart smoke and carbon monoxide detectors also analyze the heat sensor independently from the carbon monoxide sensor to determine whether to initiate a fire alarm, a life safety carbon monoxide alarm, or both.
Testing & Inspection of Carbon Monoxide Alarms
To save lives, scheduled maintenance (regular or selected) for proper detector operation should be planned to meet the requirements of the Authority Having Jurisdiction (AHJ). You will have a greater peace of mind knowing your life safety system will work when you need it. As part of our smoke, fire, and carbon monoxide alarm inspection service, our Peoria and Naperville team can include an electronic reporting program that stores your carbon monoxide detector testing reports online for you to access any time you need them.
Get a free quote for carbon monoxide sensing
Looking to upgrade your system?
Contact the experts at Thompson Electronics Company to integrate CO detectors within your existing fire alarm system or to inspect your current detectors in your business.