Washington — In response to a string of preventable carbon monoxide poisonings, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety Inspection Service has begun equipping inspection workers with wearable CO detectors.
FSIS announced in a Nov. 21 constituent update that it’s been providing workers with the sensors since October, after observing at least seven carbon monoxide poisonings since 2023. Fifty-nine workers and five FSIS employees were hospitalized as a result of the incidents.
The agency warns that carbon monoxide – a colorless, odorless and poisonous gas – “can accumulate in a variety of food production environments.” These include wood and gas-powered smokehouses; modified atmosphere packaging operations; and areas that use gas-powered forklifts, furnaces, boilers or portable heaters.
FSIS calibrates the detectors to sound an alarm in areas that meet or exceed OSHA’s permissible exposure limit for carbon monoxide, which is 50 parts per million. The initiative “does not absolve establishments of their legal responsibility” to protect their workers and agency representatives in areas in which carbon monoxide might be present.
“By equipping inspection personnel with wearable CO detectors, FSIS is upholding its mission to protect public health and pledges continued collaboration with industry partners to identify, monitor and mitigate risks in FSIS-regulated environments,” the agency says.
