HARRISBURG – June 21, 2012 – State Sen. Tim Solobay today praised passage of legislation requiring carbon monoxide detectors in multi-family buildings where fossil fuels are burned.
Senate Bill 920 would require detectors be installed in each apartment and all home owners to disclose whether a detector has been installed prior to any sale. The bill passed the Senate unanimously this week.
“It’s still hard to believe that it’s going to take a law to get carbon monoxide detectors installed where people live,” Solobay said. “Hundreds of people have died for the lack of a $20 device.”
A 2007 report by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that carbon monoxide is the leading cause of accidental poisoning deaths in America and 578 Pennsylvanians died from CO poisoning between 2000-2006. Four out of five American homes use a heating source that can generate carbon monoxide, according to census figures.
SB920 requires that the owner of each apartment in a multifamily dwelling that uses a fossil-fuel burning heater, appliance, fireplace or attached garage, have a carbon monoxide alarm installed within one year.
In multi-family dwellings, alarms must be installed in the vicinity of each sleeping area and fossil-fuel burning heater in the unit. Tenants would be responsible for maintenance of the alarm. Failure to install or maintain a carbon monoxide alarm would be a summary offense and carry a fine of up to $50.
Municipalities would still be able to may adopt more rigorous requirements pertaining to carbon monoxide alarms.
In 2009, Philadelphia enacted an ordinance requiring the installation of carbon monoxide alarms in all new and existing one-and two-family homes and certain residential care and assisted living facilities. Since then, the city has seen a two-thirds reduction in carbon monoxide poisoning cases.
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