TRAVERSE CITY, MI -- Carbon monoxide is a deadly, nearly undetectable gas. Yet few schools have carbon monoxide detectors in place.
Only two states (Connecticut and Maryland) require schools to use them.
7&4 News asked local lawmakers, after the latest carbon monoxide scare in Atlanta, should Michigan join that list?
State Representative Ray Franz said no.
“To respond to every incident like this, with legislation, would just overwhelm people with new laws and overwhelm the books and it’s an unnecessary response,” said Franz.
Representative Franz said more focus should be placed on preventing human error.
7&4 News also called around to local schools in the area.
Cadillac Area Public School leaders said they have carbon monoxide detectors in boiler rooms, where carbon monoxide would originate, and in some school gymnasiums.
Both Suttons Bay and Traverse City Area Public Schools do not use them.
District leaders feel they are not needed because of where their boiler rooms are located.
“Generally they are in an isolated location in the building. They vent directly to the outside, they bring in combustion air directly from the outside and the hot water or the heater system is piped from there," said Rod Lowes, Director of Safety, Traverse City Area Public Schools.
Lowes said the school's heating system also has built-in safe guards to prevent carbon monoxide from being produced.
It appears that a state law mandating carbon monoxide detectors in schools is not likely to pass in the near future.
Representative Franz said there has been no discussion in the State House.
Some efforts have been introduced on the federal level, but it is too early to tell if the idea will gain momentum.
