Fourteen people who worked in a building owned by Yale University were hospitalized Wednesday with carbon monoxide poisoning, the Associated Press reports. News from Yale and USA Today.
Nine of those hospitalized were construction workers, while the remaining five are employees of Yale University, the Associated Press reports. Four of those who were hospitalized have since been discharged, while the remaining 10 are still under the supervision of medical professionals, writes USA Today..
Emergency services were notified around 7:30 a.m. that a construction worker had been found unconscious on the sidewalk. The worker was taken to Yale New Haven Hospital and treated for extremely high levels of carbon monoxide in his bloodstream. He was later transferred to a hyperbaric chamber at Jacobi Medical Center in New York, she reports News from Yale.
The worker’s diagnosis prompted the discovery of near-lethal levels of carbon monoxide in the building, where New Haven Emergency Operations Director Rick Fontana said emergency responders found 13 other people complaining of headaches, according to USA Today.
New Haven Fire Department vehicles on January 17, 2024 in New Haven, CT.
Rick Fontana/New Haven Emergency Management via AP
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Mayor Justin Elicker told USA Today that after checking for a gas leak, the New Haven Fire Department found carbon monoxide levels “about 10 times the safe amount.”
Fontana explained that the building has a carbon monoxide level of 350 parts per million. He said a typical home carbon monoxide detector would alert people when it detects 35 parts per million. “That carbon monoxide, it’s not like you can smell it, see it or feel it,” Fontana explained. “Everyone thought he was venting well until we were notified about this group of people.”
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Yale University.
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New Haven Fire Chief John Alston explained Independent New Haven that the building’s ventilation may have been damaged by the winter temperatures and as a result exacerbated the effects of the leak.
“When using gas tools, you should supervise inside the building. You want proper ventilation, you want to have air monitoring,” Alston recommended.
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Elicker told USA Today that a propane saw was used at the site. “When you use that type of equipment, you should be in a properly ventilated area and use carbon monoxide monitors. And they didn’t use carbon monoxide monitors. They didn’t seem to realize that there was so much carbon monoxide in the air.” The mayor added that the Department of Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) began an investigation into the accident and a work stoppage order was issued at the site.
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Symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning include headache, dizziness, weakness, stomach upset, vomiting, chest pain and confusion, according to the CDC.
Representatives of Yale University, Mayor Elicker, OSHA and the New Haven Fire Department did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for more information on Thursday.
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Source: HIS Education