Thanks for taking a little time out of your day to learn about carbon monoxide, or CO, poisoning.
Everyone knows it's not safe to leave your car running inside your garage with the door closed. Why is that?
That's right, it will make you sick or possibly kill you. So if we don't do that at home, then why are we willing
to run gasoline-powered equipment inside closed spaces? In the last weeks of July 2012, Oregon OSHA began three
separate investigations looking into cases of potential carbon monoxide poisoning.
One of these cases affected 23 employees. We typically think of CO poisoning during the winter. A person doesn't clean their
chimney, and their family is sickened. Or the furnace isn't working right, and a whole household is sent to the hospital.
So why is CO so dangerous? Let's look at CO for a moment. First, it's not Carbon Dioxide, the gas we all exhale.
CO is an odorless, colorless gas that is about the same density as air. This means that it floats around the room and you
can't see it or smell it. It's truly a silent killer.
CO also remains in the air for almost two months after it's created. So if you have a well-sealed room,
it can be there for days or even weeks after the work is finished. Concentrations of CO are measured in parts per million.
Since carbon monoxide effects your body's ability to grab oxygen from your lungs, it can affect you in many different ways
from being lightheaded, to becoming unconscious, to even causing death. For pregnant women, it can also cause
difficulties with your pregnancy. Like a kitchen sponge sucks up water, the blood sucks up CO instead of oxygen,
and it takes a bit of work to remove it. The good thing is that with a little caution, we can keep everyone safe and healthy.
This chart shows the different OSHA limits. The most CO you can be exposed to in an 8-hour day, is 50 parts per million (PPM).
The excursion limit, or the time you can be exposed to a more significant dose, is 150 PPM for no more than 30 minutes.
Immediately dangerous to life and health, or IDLH, jumps to 1,200 PPM. This is almost one-fifth less than the 8-hour limit
for carbon dioxide. So how much is 50 parts per million or 1,200 parts per million?
This is a difficult thing to really comprehend because I've never seen a million of anything. So let's look at a demonstration.
Where we talk about 50 PPM, what we're talking about is 20,000 drops for a liter of water. So one drop makes 50 PPM.
Please remember that 1 drop, or 50 PPM, is the amount OSHA considers safe for an 8-hour work day.
More than that, can start causing serious health problems.
The 50 PPM is one drop from a dropper into one liter of water.
Now you can see how tiny that is.
It's a big area. I'm not completely inside. Or how about this one: I'm not right next to the equipment.
How do you know if you're at risk? If you use any power or heating equipment that uses carbon-based fuels,
be aware that CO can be an issue.
These are typical symptoms of CO poisoning. If you are using one of those fuel sources and suddenly have these symptoms
move to fresh air. After you move to fresh air, then reassess if CO is an issue by monitoring the area.
Here's some tips on how you can protect yourself.
First, if you're working with carbon-based fuels make certain that there is adequate ventilation and that the ventilation
moves the bad air away from people and outside to a safe distance. Preventative maintenance on equipment can also help
keep employees safe. Detectors are inexpensive and can be stationed around the work area when powered equipment is
in use. Permanently mounted detectors help the workplace as well. When questions come to mind, let us help.
Employers: if you would like to get personalized recommendations for your Oregon job site, call for a free confidential consultation.
Our consultants would be happy to give you all the details.
When it comes to carbon monoxide, don't become a statistic. Have a plan.