Agnes Krocha
With the onset of winter, soon it’ll be time for heaters to be switched on, in cars, at home or at workplaces. So it’s time to ring the carbon monoxide (CO) alarm bell before we get ourselves dangerously warmed. It was carbon monoxide that killed four of a family, including two children, inside a stationary car in Faridabad on September 3. And that was the monsoon! A study by the Central Road Research Institute (CRRI) points out that “deaths due to CO poisoning occur in closed interiors, the most common are in the motor vehicles. More than one-third of deaths from CO involving motor vehicles occur during the winter, often in garages.”
A very small amount of CO in the air can be a threat to life. In fact, air containing even 1% of CO can kill an individual within five minutes. CO suffocates the victim by displacing Oxygen in the blood. Because we can’t see, smell or taste CO, symptoms of CO poisoning, such as, headache, fatigue, drowsiness, nausea or dizziness, are attributed to other illnesses. Often the person in danger in unaware of the hazard becomes drowsy and fall asleep, permanently.
Studies have confirmed that the most common cause of CO poisoning are motor vehicles. Air inside vehicles is more hazardous than outside. Once polluted air from outside is sucked into a car, it remains inside for a long time. Studies have confirmed that congested traffic conditions lead to greater levels of in-vehicle concentration of CO than those detected in the ambient air, at the roadside and the type of vehicle and its ventilation settings make little difference. A cold engine, whether or not it is properly maintained, emits significantly more CO than a warm one. Therefore, CO emissions and concentrations in urban and roadside air are often much higher during the winter months than in the summer.
Secondary prevention efforts, which focus on early detection of potentially toxic exposures, have not been established for motor-vehicle related CO Poisonings and, though CO detectors are available, there are no standard recommendations for their use. However, CO poisoning in vehicles and Faridabad like incidents can be avoided if you,
• Get your car’s exhaust system checked every year: even a small leak can lead to a build up of CO inside the car.
• Never run the car in garage with the garage door shut, or sit in an idling vehicle in an enclosed space.
• Ensure the engine is switched off when not needed.
• Don’t smoke inside the vehicle.
• When stranded, run the engine intermittently (15 minutes of each hour).
• Make sure the wind is blowing exhaust away from the vehicle. If not, don’t run the engine.
Bottom line: ensure adequate ventilation-at home, inside car or at workplace, when warming in winter.
(The writer has done M.Sc (Environmental Science and Technology) and B.Ed. She also writes and teaches science in a High School)
aggiekrocha@gmail.com
