| CALLOUT: While the mandated date for apartments is January 1, 2013, apartment owners and property managers need to start addressing the issue of Carbon Monoxide Detectors NOW!! By Carl Morello, PE, ARM, ALCM Sequoia AVP Underwriting & Loss Control © 2007 Sequoia Insurance Company. All rights reserved. Carbon Monoxide Detectors – This new law went into effect January 1, 2011 and requires an owner of a housing unit to install a carbon monoxide device in each existing dwelling unit that has a fossil fuel burning heater or appliance, fireplace, or an attached garage: For all existing single-family dwelling units intended for human occupancy on or before July 1, 2011. For all other existing dwelling units intended for human occupancy on or before January 1, 2013. Where does Carbon Monoxide come from? Carbon monoxide is produced by devices that burn fuels. Therefore, any fuel-burning appliance in your home is a potential CO source. Electrical heaters and electric water heaters, toasters, etc., do not produce CO under any circumstances. Under normal circumstances, CO should not be detectable in the typical home or workplace. When appliances are kept in good working condition, they produce little CO. But improperly operating or improperly vented appliances can produce elevated -- even fatal -- CO concentrations in your home. Likewise, using kerosene heaters or charcoal grills indoors, or running a car in a garage, can cause levels high enough to result in CO poisoning. Common sources of CO include the following wood or gas fueled appliances:
A 17-year-old girl died, and her 15-year-old sister was critically injured, when carbon monoxide from a malfunctioning wall-mounted gas heater overwhelmed them in their Berkeley, California apartment. More than a hundred other people in the apartment complex had to be evacuated to shelters. When the landlord had purchased the building a year prior to the November 1999 incident, he had failed to obtain inspections for the building’s utilities. Officials measured the concentration of carbon monoxide in the girls’ apartment and in nearby units at 2,000 parts per million, far more than the 35 parts per million considered to be safe. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, about 500 Americans die each year from accidental carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning, and another 20,000 are sickened. About 40,000 emergency room visits are generated by people with possible CO poisoning. In California, CO poisoning causes between 30 and 40 deaths each year, leads to about 700 emergency room visits, and causes hundreds or thousands of avoidable illnesses and injuries. According to the California Air Resources Board, more than half of all CO deaths in California are linked to malfunctioning or improperly-vented combustion appliances such as space heaters, furnaces, and water heaters. Apartment owners and property managers have an important role to play in ensuring that carbon monoxide – the “silent killer” – does not create a health hazard for tenants. To minimize carbon monoxide risks and associated liabilities, apartment owners and managers should take several simple – but essential – steps. First, recognize the dangers of carbon monoxide, and understand how it might be produced in your properties. Second, ensure proper installation, maintenance, and use of appliances that can produce carbon monoxide. Third, take steps to protect your tenants by installing and maintaining CO detectors, and by offering information with which tenants can protect themselves. Recognize the Dangers of Carbon Monoxide Carbon monoxide is a colorless, odorless, highly toxic gas which is produced by the incomplete combustion of solid, liquid, and gaseous fuels (natural gas, propane, gasoline, oil, kerosene, wood, etc.). Fuel-burning appliances found in and around residential properties are common sources of carbon monoxide. (Electrical appliances cannot produce CO.) Indoors, problems can arise through improper installation, care, or use of space heaters, furnaces, water heaters, gas-fueled kitchen appliances, clothes dryers, wood-burning stoves, and fireplaces. Outdoors, careless use of charcoal or gas grills, gasoline-powered engines (cars or trucks, lawn mowers, leaf blowers, generators, snow blowers, etc.) can cause exhaust to enter residential areas and poison the people inside. And of course, using outdoor appliances (such as gas grills) indoors, or leaving a car running in a garage, can have fatal results.
Because CO is odorless and colorless, and is not detectable in typical home and work conditions, it offers no warning of its presence, thus earning it the nickname of “silent killer.” And because CO deaths are so often associated with the use of furnaces and heaters during the winter months (when windows are kept closed), it is even more aptly called the “silent, cold-weather killer.” Minimize CO Risk with Proper Installation and Maintenance When fuel-fired appliances are installed properly, inspected regularly, maintained scrupulously, and used properly, the carbon monoxide risk is very low. The risk becomes much higher in properties where equipment is malfunctioning, where inspections and regular maintenance are not performed, or where the exhaust is not safely vented outdoors. Under these circumstances, CO can quickly accumulate to dangerous levels, when it can overpower and kill people in the area. Install Equipment Properly. Proper installation is the critical first step. Select the appropriate appliance for your need, follow manufacturers’ installation instructions carefully, and hire a professional to do the installation. Pay close attention to fresh air intake (to ensure sufficient oxygen for complete combustion) and exhaust venting (to ensure that all toxic gases are removed). Be sure to comply with all applicable building codes. If in doubt on any aspect of installation, check with the appropriate local building or health official. Inspect and Maintain for Safe Operation. Regular inspection and timely maintenance should be part of your building service plan. Engage a qualified service technician to provide annual inspections for all heating systems and gas-fired appliances (e.g., clothes dryers). For heating systems, ensure that inspection is completed before the system is turned on for cold weather heating. Inspectors should look closely at electrical and mechanical components, including thermostat controls and automatic safety devices. They should also carry out close examination of chimneys and vents, to ensure tight connections, to check the condition of seals and other components, and to ensure that chimneys and vents are not blocked. Inspectors should look for these signs of potential malfunctions:
The exhaust ducts for these gas water heaters are not properly connected. The exhaust – which includes deadly carbon monoxide – vents directly into the room. This hazard will endanger tenants and their guests as well as employees. (Photos courtesy Sequoia Insurance Company) Help Tenants Reduce Their CO Risk Take steps to protect your tenants by installing and maintaining CO detectors in all units, and by offering them easy-to-understand information on how they can minimize their risk. Provide Carbon Monoxide Detectors. Even in a property where equipment is carefully maintained, it’s possible that an appliance could malfunction and release dangerous levels of carbon monoxide. For this reason, it is prudent to install carbon monoxide detectors throughout the property. Some detectors will sound an alarm when small amounts of CO are present; others will go off only when CO reaches life-threatening levels. Consult a professional to determine the best type of alarm for your property. Be sure to choose only alarms that are listed by Underwriters Laboratories (UL). Because CO spreads quickly and evenly throughout the building, install CO detectors in sleeping areas and also in hallways and stairwells to alert all occupants as quickly as possible. Choose detectors with audible alarms; however, in units where hearing-impaired residents are present, install detectors that attach to beds and alert residents with strong vibrations to shake them awake. Follow manufacturers’ instructions for installation. In general, wall or ceiling installations are preferred. Keep detectors at least five feet away from chemicals, household cleaners, etc., as these can damage the detector or cause false alarms. Do not install CO detectors on top of, or directly across from, fuel-burning appliances. It is normal for these appliances to emit a small amount of CO when they first turn on, which will trigger a false alarm. If the detectors are “hard wired” (connected directly to the building’s electrical system), test them monthly and replace the batteries according to the manufacturers’ recommendations. If the detectors are battery-powered, test them according to manufacturers’ recommendations and replace their batteries annually. Some municipalities require that apartment owners install carbon monoxide detectors in residential units. Check with local authorities to determine what is required for your properties. Help Tenants Use CO Detectors. Be sure that tenants know about the CO detectors and understand how they should respond to any alarm that might sound. Advise tenants to take the following actions if the CO alarm sounds:
Rarely, residents will experience “nuisance alarms,” frequent soundings from the detector. Advise tenants to contact you if this happens so that a technician can inspect for pervasive low levels of CO. Help Tenants Reduce their Risk – and Yours. Many carbon monoxide poisonings occur when consumers misuse fuel-fired appliances. You can help your tenants reduce their risk by providing these easy-to-understand guidelines:
In her Provo, Utah, apartment in September 2003, a young woman turned on the heat for the first time that season. Within a half hour, she and her housemates experienced headaches; suspecting carbon monoxide, they turned off the furnace. They reported the problem to the landlord and requested repair of the furnace; an apartment employee acknowledged the request but did not act on it. Three weeks later, the tenants turned on the furnace, expecting that it had been repaired. The young woman was overcome by carbon monoxide and suffered brain damage. An inspection showed that the apartment furnace was faulty. In 2006, the young woman, who had suffered brain damage, filed a $350,000 lawsuit against the apartment complex, seeking a minimum of $250,000 in general damages, a minimum of $100,000 in special damages and unspecified punitive damages at a jury trial. Consider prohibiting tenants’ indoor use of unvented gas or kerosene space heaters. Be careful, too, about the new “flameless” catalytic heaters. Although these heaters don’t have a flame, they burn propane gas, which generates carbon monoxide. Check with your local authorities to determine if any of these heaters are permitted in your municipality. When apartment owners and managers reduce the threat of carbon monoxide (the “silent killer”) they also reduce their own liability for injuries and illnesses related to the presence of CO in their properties. A simple three-point approach – recognizing the CO hazard, maintaining equipment to minimize CO production, and protecting and informing tenants – will reduce risk and provide a safer environment for all.
CAA Value Insurance Plan • 866.913.6293 • Assurance Risk Managers 980 Ninth Street, Suite 200 Sacramento, CA 95814-2741 CA License #0C73841 |
Carbon Monoxide Detectors: The New Law and the Impact for Apartments
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