Carbon monoxide poisoning is deadly. The gas behind it is one you cannot see, smell, or taste, and a person can breathe it in for a long time without realising anything is wrong. The difference between a scare and serious harm can come down to fast action in the moment and simple upkeep at home.
What is Carbon Monoxide Poisoning?
Carbon monoxide gas, often shortened to CO, forms when fuels such as gas, wood, petrol, and charcoal burn without enough air to burn fully. Inhaling carbon monoxide draws it into your bloodstream, where it is taken up by your red blood cells instead of oxygen.
The brain and heart, the body’s biggest users of oxygen, feel the shortage first. Accidental carbon monoxide poisoning happens indoors, where high levels of carbon monoxide build up around a fuel-burning appliance that is faulty, poorly maintained, or run without enough fresh air.
Symptoms of Carbon Monoxide Poisoning
The symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning are easy to confuse with everyday illness. A headache, dizziness, feeling sick, tiredness, and shortness of breath are the common symptoms of CO poisoning, and at first they can be taken for the flu or a stomach bug.
As the level of carbon monoxide in your blood rises, the signs grow more serious. Chest pain, blurred vision, confusion, unsteadiness, and a loss of consciousness can follow, and seizures may come with severe poisoning.
Signs that ease once a person is out of the building and return on going back inside are a strong clue. Other people in the same home, along with any pets, may fall ill around the same time.
Complications of Carbon Monoxide Poisoning
Carbon monoxide poisoning can cause lasting damage. The brain and heart are most at risk, and can leave a person with memory trouble, difficulty concentrating, low mood, or movement problems. At its worst it is fatal within minutes.
Some effects are delayed. A person can seem to recover, then develop new problems with memory, thinking, or movement days or even weeks later. Heart strain from a serious episode can also raise the risk of heart trouble for years afterward. Breathing low levels of carbon monoxide over weeks or months can cause harm of its own, including lasting headaches, nausea, and tiredness.
Some people are harmed at a lower level of carbon monoxide than others. Unborn babies, young children, older adults, and people with existing health problems such as heart or lung disease feel the effects sooner and more severely. Pregnant women also face an added risk.
First Aid Treatment for Carbon Monoxide Poisoning
Act on carbon monoxide poisoning the moment you suspect it.
Protect yourself before anything else. Do not step into air thick with toxic fumes, and open windows, open doors, or switch off the appliance only if you can do it without breathing in the gas.
Call Triple Zero (000) for an ambulance, and say you think the person has breathed in carbon monoxide.
Get the person into fresh air if you can reach them without going into the fumes. If they can walk, help them leave the area; if the air is too dangerous to enter, wait for the crew to arrive.
If the person is not breathing normally or has had a loss of consciousness, begin CPR and follow the voice prompts on a defibrillator if one is on hand.
Have everyone with potential carbon monoxide exposure seen by a doctor, even those who feel well. Symptoms and organ damage can appear hours later.
How to Reduce the Risk of Carbon Monoxide Poisoning
Carbon monoxide poisoning is largely preventable.
Have your gas heaters, gas stove, and other gas appliances serviced at least every two years by a licensed gasfitter.
Keep barbecues, patio heaters, generators, and other outdoor appliances outside, never in a house, garage, tent, or caravan.
Do not use a gas stove or oven to heat a room.
Never leave a car or other petrol engine running in a closed garage, even with the door up.
Keep flues, vents, and chimneys clear and free of blockages.
Open-flued gas space heaters need extra care. Running a fan at the same time can pull carbon monoxide from the flue back into the room, so keep those fans off while the heater runs.
A carbon monoxide detector provides a warning your own senses cannot. Fit one near sleeping areas, and a house with gas appliances spread across more than one area may need several detectors in your home. Check the detector batteries every six months along with your smoke detector, and replace the whole unit once it passes the expiry date printed on it.
Enrol in First Aid Training
Carbon monoxide poisoning is preventable and survivable when the people nearby act fast. Both halves are within your control. Someone who has practised what to do can stay calm and turn a frightening scene into a managed one. A first aid course gives you the readiness to act in those first minutes and keep someone breathing until the ambulance arrives.
FAQs
How Long Does Carbon Monoxide Take to Leave the Body?
Carbon monoxide clears from blood over several hours once a person is breathing fresh air. Pure oxygen through a face mask can bring that down to about an hour.
What Does a Faulty Gas Appliance Look Like?
A gas flame that burns yellow or orange instead of blue can signal that the fuel is not burning fully. Dark soot or brown staining around the unit and heavy moisture on nearby windows point the same way.
Are Carbon Monoxide Alarms Required by Law in Australia?
No. Carbon monoxide alarms are not required by law in private Australian homes, even though smoke alarms are. Fitting one is a voluntary safety step, left to the owner or occupier of the property.
