Each year, approximately 1,000 households are victims of accidental carbon monoxide poisoning. The majority of accidents occur in winter and are due to heating appliances. How to avoid poisoning and how to recognize the signs? Focus.
- More than 3,000 carbon monoxide poisonings are recorded each year
- Inhaling carbon monoxide can be deadly
- The first symptoms are headache, nausea and vomiting
Invisible, odorless, non-irritating, carbon monoxide (CO) is a gas which, each year, is the cause of thousands of domestic accidents in France, leading to poisoning which can prove fatal. During the 2016-2017 heating campaign, 3,354 poisonings and accidents due to carbon monoxide were recorded, with 2,295 people treated by hospitals.
Resulting from incomplete combustion, regardless of the fuel used (wood, butane, coal, gasoline, fuel oil, natural gas, oil, propane), carbon monoxide spreads very quickly in the environment, causing each year hundreds of deaths.
According to Public Health France, 86% of carbon monoxide poisoning occurs in homes and three quarters are linked to a heating or hot water production system such as a boiler, stove, radiator or water heater. The other poisonings are linked to the use of an unconnected appliance such as a brazier/barbecue, a generator or a mobile auxiliary heater.
What are the signs of carbon monoxide poisoning?
This time of year, when temperatures are very low, is particularly prone to carbon monoxide poisoning, which can be fatal in less than an hour due to its asphyxiating properties. When inhaled, carbon monoxide attaches itself to the blood cells, preventing them from carrying oxygen properly through the body. Depending on its concentration, the duration of exposure and the volume of air inhaled, poisoning can be chronic or acute.
The first symptoms of poisoning are headaches, nausea and vomiting. Poisoning must necessarily be suspected if these symptoms are observed in several people in the same room or if they disappear outside this room.
In the most serious forms, the symptoms are loss of consciousness, neurological or cardiovascular disorders that can lead to a state of coma, then death.
If in doubt, open the doors and windows immediately, switch off the suspected device, get out of the house as quickly as possible and call the emergency services: call the Samu (15), the fire brigade (18), 112 from a cell phone or 114 for the deaf or hard of hearing.
How to avoid carbon monoxide poisoning?
To limit the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning at home, it is advisable to have a professional systematically check the heating and hot water production systems and the flues before the cold season by a qualified professional, and to maintain them throughout the year. The professional will give you a “certificate of conformity” during installation, then, each year, a “maintenance certificate”.
It is also advisable to ventilate at least ten minutes every day, even in winter, to keep the ventilation systems in good working order and never to block the air inlets and outlets.
It is also necessary to follow the instructions for use of combustion appliances and never to operate auxiliary heaters continuously. Finally, generators must be placed outside buildings and never use appliances not intended for this purpose for heating (stove, brazier, barbecue, etc.).
.