Carbon monoxide exposure in office building sickens employees - Louisiana, 2007

Details

• Personal Author:
  Gastanaduy M
• Description:
  In early 2007, an office building in Louisiana was evacuated and twelve employees received emergency medical treatment due to carbon monoxide (CO) exposure. Around 3:30 p.m., the incident was first reported to the local fire department which arrived thirty minutes later, evacuated the building and conducted a CO air analysis. The initial reading detected high levels of CO - approximately 700 parts per million (PPM) - in a stairwell. (The Occupational Safety and Health Administration's permissible exposure limit for CO is 50 ppm as an 8-hour time-weighted average in the workplace.) A second reading conducted after the building had been ventilated for approximately thirty minutes showed CO levels less than 35 ppm. Although the source of exposure is still under investigation, initial reports suggested that an improperly vented boiler introduced CO into the building. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Environmental Monitoring Occupational Health Safety Ventilation
• Keywords:
  Exposure-assessment Exposure-levels Exposure-limits Oxides Permissible-concentration-limits Poison-gases Time-weighted-average-exposure
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Newsletter
• Place as Subject:
  Louisiana ; OSHA Region 6
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1-2
• Volume:
  18
• Issue:
  3
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20042476
• Citation:
  LA Morb Rep 2007 May-Jun; 18(3):1-2
• Contact Point Address:
  Mariella Gastanaduy, Louisiana Office of Public Health - Infectious Disease Epidemiology Section, P.O. Box 60630, New Orleans, LA 70160
• CAS Registry Number:
  Carbon monoxide (CAS RN 630-08-0)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2007
• Performing Organization:
  Louisiana State Office of Public Health
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20050701
• Source Full Name:
  Louisiana Morbidity Report
• End Date:
  20150630
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:aeb4c6f4f2f3c4ff52b6c27cc7a32e776ac540e3f409f1741aa0a275b0d9c513a179b1c88a7de09d147be4e77fbf482fc853c25793725e5822321bf538ecad8d
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/194693/cdc_194693_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 192.52 KB ]