Comments on: Protecting Employees from Carbon Monoxide Poisoning http://www.safetyxchange.org/health-safety/protecting-employees-from-carbon-monoxide-poisoning Putting Safety First Sun, 29 Jan 2012 04:58:22 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=5281 hourly 1 By: johntappa http://www.safetyxchange.org/health-safety/protecting-employees-from-carbon-monoxide-poisoning/comment-page-1#comment-160698 johntappa Mon, 05 Dec 2011 18:38:46 +0000 http://www.safetyxchange.org/article.php?id=151#comment-160698 I just recently read a newspaper article on several employees getting poisoned by Carbon Monoxide. The interesting thing about this particular situation was that the place of business did not even have equipment that emit this particular toxic gas. The carbon monoxide was brought into the building from an idling vehicle parked directly in front of the place of business. As a business owner, this made me a little nervous, since I do not currently have any precautions in place for carbon monoxide monitoring. I began to do a little research on what OSHA may require in the workplace to monitor for carbon monoxide. I couldn't find anything, other than OSHA has a PEL (Permissable Exposure Limit) for CO in the workplace. They allow up to 50 ppm of CO exposure over an 8-hour work period. NIOSH has an REL (Recommended Exposure Limit) of 35 ppm over an 8-hour work period. I have no way of currently monitoring the CO levels in my warehouse, so I began the hunt for equipment that would allow me to do so. I originally thought that I could just install a regular residential CO detector in my offices and warehouse, but I was told by almost every manufacturer I called that I would be voiding the warranty on the CO alarms because they were not meant to be installed in a commercial or industrial environment. I came across a few very expensive commercial CO monitors that would allow me to view the current carbon monoxide levels within my work environment, but the equipment seemed more suited to a large industrial facility and not so much my small warehouse and office space. Plus, the equipment ran into the thousands and also required semi-annual maintenance which also cost money. Not very suitable for my small-business budget. I continued my search for a low-to-mid priced piece of commercial equipment that would allow me to meet both the NIOSH and OSHA requirements. That is when I ran across the Protech 8505 commercial CO monitor. This little guy only cost me around $100 and allowed me to monitor for carbon monoxide down to 10 ppm. It keeps an 8-hour TWA (time weighted average) which allows the owner to see what the average CO was over the last 8 hours - thus, allowing you to comply with both OSHA and NIOSH. It goes into alarm at 30 ppm in less than 7 hours and when the CO levels get higher the alarm time gets lower. For instance at 195 ppm the CO monitor will go into alarm in less than 15 seconds. This also allows for my company to meet the NIOSH requirement of no more than 200 ppm exposure at any given time. The only thing is that this unit can only monitor up to 1000 sq. ft. of unobstructed space, so I had to purchase 3 for my warehouse and 2 for my offices. You have to check the units each day and keep a physical log of what the 8-hour TWA is so that if you are inspected by OSHA you can prove your compliance. The units have a two year life span, which means that I will have to replace these either annually or every other year to make sure that they are accurate at low levels. But it doesn't bother me so much because if I went with the multi-thousand dollar units I'm still paying less per year completely replacing the protech 8505 vs. just the maintenance costs on the more expensive units. Anyhow, I thought that I would help eliminate the need for other business owners or safety managers to do the same research I did, jut to come up to the same conclusion. I purchased this unit at an online safety store called the Seaco Company, but it is available elsewhere. They shipped my CO monitors the same day I ordered them and also were able to answer installation questions and the such. Good Luck to the rest of you. I just recently read a newspaper article on several employees getting poisoned by Carbon Monoxide. The interesting thing about this particular situation was that the place of business did not even have equipment that emit this particular toxic gas. The carbon monoxide was brought into the building from an idling vehicle parked directly in front of the place of business. As a business owner, this made me a little nervous, since I do not currently have any precautions in place for carbon monoxide monitoring.

I began to do a little research on what OSHA may require in the workplace to monitor for carbon monoxide. I couldn't find anything, other than OSHA has a PEL (Permissable Exposure Limit) for CO in the workplace. They allow up to 50 ppm of CO exposure over an 8-hour work period. NIOSH has an REL (Recommended Exposure Limit) of 35 ppm over an 8-hour work period.

I have no way of currently monitoring the CO levels in my warehouse, so I began the hunt for equipment that would allow me to do so. I originally thought that I could just install a regular residential CO detector in my offices and warehouse, but I was told by almost every manufacturer I called that I would be voiding the warranty on the CO alarms because they were not meant to be installed in a commercial or industrial environment. I came across a few very expensive commercial CO monitors that would allow me to view the current carbon monoxide levels within my work environment, but the equipment seemed more suited to a large industrial facility and not so much my small warehouse and office space. Plus, the equipment ran into the thousands and also required semi-annual maintenance which also cost money. Not very suitable for my small-business budget.

I continued my search for a low-to-mid priced piece of commercial equipment that would allow me to meet both the NIOSH and OSHA requirements. That is when I ran across the Protech 8505 commercial CO monitor. This little guy only cost me around $100 and allowed me to monitor for carbon monoxide down to 10 ppm. It keeps an 8-hour TWA (time weighted average) which allows the owner to see what the average CO was over the last 8 hours - thus, allowing you to comply with both OSHA and NIOSH. It goes into alarm at 30 ppm in less than 7 hours and when the CO levels get higher the alarm time gets lower. For instance at 195 ppm the CO monitor will go into alarm in less than 15 seconds. This also allows for my company to meet the NIOSH requirement of no more than 200 ppm exposure at any given time.

The only thing is that this unit can only monitor up to 1000 sq. ft. of unobstructed space, so I had to purchase 3 for my warehouse and 2 for my offices. You have to check the units each day and keep a physical log of what the 8-hour TWA is so that if you are inspected by OSHA you can prove your compliance. The units have a two year life span, which means that I will have to replace these either annually or every other year to make sure that they are accurate at low levels. But it doesn't bother me so much because if I went with the multi-thousand dollar units I'm still paying less per year completely replacing the protech 8505 vs. just the maintenance costs on the more expensive units. Anyhow, I thought that I would help eliminate the need for other business owners or safety managers to do the same research I did, jut to come up to the same conclusion. I purchased this unit at an online safety store called the Seaco Company, but it is available elsewhere. They shipped my CO monitors the same day I ordered them and also were able to answer installation questions and the such. Good Luck to the rest of you.

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