Is it possible to install a detector to avoid the danger of carbon monoxide, which kills dozens of people every year? The number of deaths from carbon monoxide increases every winter compared to the summer months. To prevent this “silent death on its feet”, residents should install detectors in their homes, experts suggest. In some new high-rise buildings, housing cooperatives are voluntarily equipping homes with gas detectors, an employee of one such company told the BBC in Azerbaijani. Some MPs believe that detectors should be installed in apartments to prevent gas hazards. Carbon monoxide was the primary cause of death for a woman and two minors in the Zagatala region on December 31. Shortly afterwards, a young man in Baku was diagnosed with carbon monoxide poisoning.
“I fainted in the bathroom” Baku resident Aygun (name changed at his request) says she fainted while bathing in a bathroom earlier this year. Family members ran to the bathroom at the sound of the tap and found him unconscious: “I was immediately taken to the fresh air and called an ambulance.” Aygun says she was suffocated by carbon monoxide from a gas heater in the bathroom. “I can’t say carbon monoxide, but if there is a gas leak or a problem, the detector installed in the house immediately sounds,” Guldana Akhundzadeh, who lives in one of the new buildings in Khirdalan, Baku, told BBC Azerbaijani. “We voluntarily equipped the apartments with detectors” A spokesman for one of Baku’s housing construction companies told the BBC Azerbaijani that they were installing gas meters and carbon monoxide detectors in the buildings they were building. According to the company official, this is their personal initiative and they have not received any instructions from any organization.
Carbon monoxide detectors are sold in online stores In the event of both a gas leak and carbon monoxide, these devices first stop the flow of gas by sounding a loud signal, and then warn and inform the homeowner, said an employee of the MTC, who did not want to be named. According to a company official, these devices are available and can even be found on the Internet. “The use of carbon monoxide detectors should be mandatory” The installation of carbon monoxide detectors in apartments should be mandatory, said Musa Guliyev, deputy chairman of the Health Committee of the Azerbaijani Parliament. He told the BBC in Azerbaijani that this should be done either by making amendments to the relevant law or in the form of instructions for the relevant body: “This is a very important issue. I think that the use of gas detectors in residential and other facilities where gas is used should be mandatory. This can be included in the legislation, if necessary, or simply” Azerigas “or another agency can instruct it.” .
“Most poisonings happen in the bathroom” Nusrat Gasimov, a utility specialist with the Free Consumers’ Union, told BBC Azerbaijani that to prevent carbon monoxide poisoning, the size of the bathroom had to meet standards and several large holes had to be drilled in the bottom of the door. At this time, the air circulates and there is always fresh air in the bathroom, he added. “99% of carbon monoxide poisoning occurs in the bathroom. Carbon monoxide is deadly in 7-30 minutes, depending on the concentration in the room. When the amount of carbon monoxide in the air is 0.1 percent, it is already deadly,” said Nusrat Gasimov. According to the expert, despite the fact that the press has been writing for years and raising issues, the death rate from carbon monoxide has not decreased. According to him, residents must ensure their own safety.
The “gas alarm system” is not properly promoted However, Nusrat Gasimov believes that the use of this device is not sufficiently promoted. “The smallest, sometimes unnecessary products are advertised, but there is no educational information or advertising about such a useful product,” said Gasimov, a former gas inspector. Emin Aliyev, who previously worked as an engineer for health, safety, labor protection and fire safety, considers the installation of “gas detectors” on sale ineffective. He said in an interview with BBC Azerbaijani that the compliance of these detectors with the relevant standards must be confirmed by the relevant authorities. The expert says that the cost of such detectors is around 30 manat. The former engineer added that “the use of homemade gas appliances should be banned.” Azerigas is not responsible for the gas pipelines in the apartments, Ibrahim Karbalayev, head of the public relations department of the Azerigas Production Association, told BBC Azerbaijani. The experts we spoke to say that the Ministry of Emergency Situations is responsible for the safety of gas pipelines in apartments. The BBC has not yet received a response to its appeal to the Ministry of Emergency Situations in Azerbaijani.