Carbon Monoxide (CO)

• What is Carbon Monoxide?

Carbon monoxide (CO) is a poisonous gas that we can’t see, smell or taste.  It can poison the air 🤢 and hurt us and our pets if we breathe it. It’s especially dangerous if we breathe it while we are asleep because it won’t wake us up before it starts hurting us.

Drawing by Frankie (8th grade), 2015 Consumer Product Safety Commission poster winner

The only way to know CO is in the air before it hurts us is with a special alarm called a carbon monoxide (CO) alarm.

• Where does CO come from?

Carbon monoxide is produced by many different types of appliances, tools and equipment.  It’s also part of smoke, car exhaust, and boat exhaust.  Here are some examples of sources of CO:

• How can we stay safe from CO?

Here are 3 important ways you and your family can stay safe from CO at home:

1. Have CO alarms on every level of your home, especially in or near bedrooms.  It’s important to be able to hear the alarm if it goes off while you are sleeping (ask your parents where the alarms are in your home).

2.  Know what your alarms sound like when they are alerting to CO (if you don’t know, ask your parents to help you find out).

3.  Know what to do if you hear the alarm alerting to CO:  hurry and get outside to fresh air, then call 911!  Firefighters will come and make sure the CO gets out of your home, and they will help find out how it got in.  They will tell you when it’s safe to go back inside.

Where are the CO alarms in your home?  Click here to print this Find Your Alarms activity page:

• These are other important places to have CO alarms:

🐤 Be an Airy Ambassador: Share what you know about CO to help others stay safe too ❤️