No Carbon Monoxide Detectors In Most North Texas Schools
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) – According to Texas law, schools are not required to have carbon monoxide monitors, and based on a check by the CBS 11 I-Team, most North Texas districts are not taking it upon themselves to install them.
Highland Park ISD is the only district CBS 11 contacted which does have carbon monoxide detectors in all of its schools. They were installed after a 2008 bond election.
McKinney ISD has detectors in some of its schools, but not all of them.
Frisco, Grand Prairie, Arlington, Fort Worth and Dallas all told us they do not have C-O detectors.
Nationwide, this is not that uncommon. The I-Team has learned only four states (Connecticut, Maryland, California, and Utah) require schools to have c-o detectors. In most of those cases, the mandates followed incidents similar to what we saw at Lakewood Elementary school.
A spokesperson with Healthy Schools Network says it's an "unaddressed, unexamined risk" inside schools across the country.
Other industry insiders say there is room for improvement in Texas, but as a state we are not totally behind. State law here requires houses, day cares and group homes to install detectors.
Some states, like Ohio, where three children died inside from carbon monoxide poisoning yesterday inside their home, have no requirements for detectors anywhere.
Many experts say this is not necessarily a cost saving measure, it may simply be an oversight. Most state requirements and codes are written by building inspectors, and their main concern is the safety of a building. Fire alarms are required because they protect the health of a building, where a carbon monoxide detector protects the health of people.
Experts say it may take more incidents like Lakewood Elementary to draw attention to a potential need for monitors in schools.