Three CO situations in three days

One story

Four hotel workers felled by CO fumes

By Michael Puffer / MPUFFER@CNC.COM
Thursday, September 18, 2003











Victims hospitalized following boiler room leak


Four Sheraton Ferncroft maintenance workers were taken to Beverly Hospital suffering from carbon monoxide poisoning yesterday afternoon, after the boiler room where they were working filled with the deadly fumes. Their conditions were unavailable at press time.

A Sheraton maintenance supervisor, checking up on a pair of workers who had been out of contact for an unusually long time, found one man sprawled on the floor of the boiler room and one outside, Danvers Fire Department Deputy Chief Stephen Prendergast said. One of the men was in convulsions, the other was unconscious, he said.

The supervisor was joined by another Sheraton employee, and the pair pulled the two incapacitated men from the first-floor boiler room to a nearby loading dock, Fire Department officials said.

When firefighters and paramedics from the Danvers and Middleton Fire departments and Lyons Ambulance arrived at the scene around 2:30 p.m. they found the two Sheraton employees who had rescued the others were also suffering common signs of carbon monoxide poisoning (stiff joints and a severe headache), Prendergast said.

"I've never seen higher levels," Danvers Fire Lt. Mike Perry said during a press conference. As Perry entered the corridor leading to the boiler room his gas meter registered carbon monoxide at 900 parts per million (PPM). At 16 PPM "you need to get out of there in a hurry," Perry said.

Levels of 900 PPM are fatal within 20 minutes to one-half hour, Prendergast said.

A hotel spokesperson who called The Herald Wednesday refuted the fire department account.

"They walked down and said 'we are not feeling so hot,' no passing-out, no seizures, none of that," Sheraton spokesperson Chris Daly said. "Two of them drove themselves to the hospital."

Middleton and Danvers firefighters were joined by police from both towns, as well as firefighters from North Reading. Breathing portable oxygen, firefighters walked through the 367-room hotel straddling Danvers and Middleton, opening windows, looking for possible victims, checking gas levels and setting up fans to pump the gas outdoors.

Prendergast said a failure in the ventilation system allowed gas from the boiler to pool in the boiler room and spill to nearby corridors. Lighter than air, the gas had traveled through the building and was pumped out by fans set up by Danvers firefighters, Perry said.

About 150 guests were registered at the Sheraton Thursday, hotel spokesman Julie Campisani said. In addition, about 200 guests were attending a Hospice of the North Shore conference in one of the hotel's function halls, and about 25 people were attending a second conference at the hotel, she said.

No guests reported symptoms of exposure to high levels of carbon monoxide, fire officials said.

At about 2:45 p.m. the decision was made to pull a fire alarm and evacuate guests from the hotel, Campisani said. Hotel managers went from room to room making sure people had gotten out, she said.

Fire Department officials were unable to give the conditions of the injured Sheraton workers at press time. Their condition depended on how long the workers had been exposed, Prendergast said during the press conference.

Daly said two of the stricken workers were released from the hospital as of 7 p.m. Wednesday, and the other two were expected to be released later that night.

Fire Department officials had not released the names of the victims as of press time and the Herald was unable to confirm the status of the injured workers.

Investigators from the U.S. Department of Labor Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) were dispatched to investigate the scene, which is standard procedure in such cases.

It is very scary that I find most people get cheap when

it comes to buying the right co detector: "oh. my husband says the one from Home depot is fine for us...yours is almost 4 times the price......" Unfortunatley, it takes a sick person or a call to the fire dept. or gas company to wake these people up. I'd say that we sell only 1 in every 15 people who have yet to have a problem. Once they have a problem we can sell 12 out of 15. You still get some very stubborn and stupid people. Out of the 12 people, only 6 or 8 will buy 2 - one for sleeping floors and one for either basement or main floor. Very frustrating! But we are making some headway. Mad Dog

To Learn More About This Contractor, Click Here to Visit Their Ad in "Find A Contractor"

CO Monitors not 'Alarms'

It's real easy to tell if a CO alarm is going to provide you, your family and customers true protection. Look for the UL lable, if it meets UL standards, it is worthless except for very dangerous exposure levels.

Go to the CO-Experts webpage, there's alot of real good info there - www.coexperts.com .

Another interesting read is the Gas Research Institute "Performance and Reliability Study" on CO Alarms:

http://www.gastechnology.org/webroot/downloads/en/4ReportsPubs/TechReports/020112.pdf

Among other findings, they determined that 38% of the 90 alarms they purchased right of store shelves failed, brand new, right out of the box. Yet when the test button was pressed, the display indicated they were working just fine.....

> It's real easy to tell if a CO alarm is going to

> provide you, your family and customers true

> protection. Look for the UL lable, if it meets

> UL standards, it is worthless except for very

> dangerous exposure levels.

>

> Go to the

> CO-Experts webpage, there's alot of real good

> info there - www.coexperts.com .

>

> Another

> interesting read is the Gas Research Institute

> "Performance and Reliability Study" on CO

> Alarms:

>

> http://www.gastechnology.org/webroot/do

> wnloads/en/4ReportsPubs/TechReports/020112.pdf

> Among other findings, they determined that 38% of

> the 90 alarms they purchased right of store

> shelves failed, brand new, right out of the box.

> Yet when the test button was pressed, the display

> indicated they were working just fine.....



"Among other findings, they determined that 38% of the 90 alarms they purchased right of store shelves failed, brand new, right out of the box. Yet when the test button was pressed, the display indicated they were working just fine....."

The best Co units I've seen are Co EXperts................

They are the only ones I use. How can you tell the good ones???? Price!!!!!!! We sell them for $189.95 and the Home Depot sells Their "butes" for $49.95. They stink, but even after explaining all the benefits of The CO Experts, most people care only about price. As I said before, the only time they learn is when someone gets sick, or the gas company comes and locks them out. Mad Dog

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George Kerr is the Preacher!!

> Those "over the counter" alarms will alert the

> EMT's as to why you are

> unconcious........................

>

>

>

> If they

> work that is!

>

> Mark H

>

> _A

> HREF="http://www.heatinghelp.com/getListed.cfm?id=

> 238&Step=30"_To Learn More About This Contractor,

> Click Here to Visit Their Ad in "Find A

> Contractor"_/A_

co detectors

I trouble shoot CO calls all the time - I've recommended nighthawk detectors to many people , what I've found is , when they have had the pulg into the outlet nighthawks that have alarmed , ther has been a ligitimate problem . most of the other brands are junk. consumer reports {1998}did rate nighthawk as the best over the counter available. I'm amazed that their not required as are smoke alarms in all homes. The cost is low , and saves lives. Wake up America or maybe not at all !!!!!!!!!!!

where can the co-expert be bought?

cheap detectors

I actually read the instructions for 1 that said...and I quote:"If alarm sounds, place outside in fresh air for 24 hours to reset..." Can you imagine!!! If its sounds don't take it seriously unless it happens again.29.95 big box special. When it comes to human life spend the $$$
Mike

And this from Isabel...

"The deadly effects of the storm also were being felt in Pennsylvania, where a woman died Sunday from fumes emitted by a generator used to power her house."